Volume 1, Number 3, September 2000

Effects of losartan on haemodynamic parameters and angiotensin receptor mRNA levels in rat heart after myocardial infarction
Yi Zhun Zhu, Yi-Chun Zhu, Jun Li, Heiner Schäfer, Wolfgang Schmidt, Tai Yao, Thomas Unger

We investigated the haemodynamic parameters and the regulation of cardiac mRNA levels of the angiotensin receptor subtypes, AT₁ and AT₂, by the AT₁-receptor antagonist losartan in rat heart during the acute phase of myocardial infarction. AT₁- and AT₂-receptor mRNA levels markedly increased at 30 minutes and peaked at 24 hours post myocardial infarction (12.6-fold increase for AT₁- and 17.2-fold increase for AT₂ compared with controls). Losartan significantly reduced mean blood pressure in sham-operated rats and decreased mean blood pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure in myocardial infarction rats. However, the AT₁- and AT₂-receptor mRNA levels of losartan-treated rats showed a pattern similar to that of water-treated rats. The time-dependent increase of AT₁- and AT₂-receptor mRNA levels is associated with the early remodelling process of non-infarcted myocardium post MI and is independent of AT₁-receptor blockade.

JRAAS 2000;1:257-262.

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