Cardiac Effects of Aldosterone, the Bad, but Is There Also a Good?

Several trials have demonstrated the important benefit of aldosterone, aldo, antagonists in patients with heart failure, HF, and the commonly accepted conclusion is that it is important to block aldo in every disease conditions. High doses of aldo generate myocardial fibrosis in the rat through pericoronary inflammatory reaction and necrosis. Low doses of aldo can be targeted in the myocardium by using a transgenic model of mice overexpressing aldo synthase, TGAS, in the cardiac tissue. In this model the normal cardiac content in aldo is enhanced by a factor of 1.7. TGAS mice have a normal cardiac function and no significant fibrosis.