Does captopril alter collagen phenotypes and regress myocardial hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats?
Captopril therapy reverses myocardial hypertrophy and normalizes the collagen matrix composition in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
The myocardium contains collagen matrix that is a major determinant of its architecture, structural integrity, and mechanical properties. This fibrillar matrix consists primarily of type I and type III collagens having epimysial, perimysial, and endomysial components. The present study shows the alteration of collagen phenotypes during the evolution of hypertensive hypertrophy. Therapy with captopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor that regresses cardiac hypertrophy, not only reduces the total amount of collagen but reverses the altered distribution of type I and type III collagen. In normotensive rats, captopril did not significantly reduce collagen content or alter the ratio of type I to type III collagen.
Mukherjee et al. (Sat,) studied this question.