Altered cardiac hormone and contractile protein messenger RNA levels following left ventricular myocardial infarction in the rat: An in situ hybridization histochemical study

Abstract

Objectives: Cardiac remodeling secondary to myocardial infarction is associated with hypertrophy of surviving myocardium and altered cardiac gene expression. The present study examined the spatiotemporal expression of cardiac contractile protein and peptide hormone mRNA following left ventricular myocardial infarction (LVMI) in the rat heart. Methods: LVMI was produced in Wistar rats by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery and mRNA levels of cardiac α-actin (cACT), skeletal α-actin (sACT), ventricular myosin light chain-2 (MLC-2v), β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) and pre-proatrial natriuretic peptide (ppANP) were examined at 24 h, 1 and 4 weeks) post-LVMI by in situ hybridiz..