Preserved cardiac performance with reduced left ventricular mass in conscious exercising spontaneously hypertensive rats

Objectives To investigate whether cardiovascular performance can be modified beneficially with left ventricular hypertrophy reversal and whether the associated sudden afterload increases may adversely affect overall cardiac performance. Methods We studied cardiovascular performance with thermodilution techniques at rest and during maximal treadmill exercise after 3 weeks' treatment with the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor quinapril (3 mg/kg per day) in 19 male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) aged 20 weeks. Results Left ventricular mass was reduced significantly, without impairment of exercise performance, demonstrating that left ventricular hypertrophy reversal benefited or at least did not hinder cardiovascular adaptation to physiologic exercise in the SHR. Moreover, decreasing the afterload did not further improve the performance after the reversal of left ventricular hypertrophy.