Long-Term Cardiac proBNP Gene Delivery Prevents the Development of Hypertensive Heart Disease in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Background Diastolic dysfunction associated with high blood pressure (BP) leads to cardiac remodeling and fibrosis and progression to congestive heart failure. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has BP lowering, anti-fibrotic and anti-hypertrophic properties, which makes BNP an attractive agent for attenuating the adverse cardiac remodeling associated with hypertension. In the current study, we tested the effects of sustained cardiac proBNP gene delivery on BP, cardiac function and remodeling in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).