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BACKGROUND: Ghrelin is a novel growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide that may also induce vasodilation and stimulate feeding through GH-independent mechanisms. We investigated whether ghrelin improves left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and attenuates cardiac cachexia in rats with chronic heart failure (CHF). METHODS AND RESULTS: Ligation of the left coronary artery or sham operation was performed; 4 weeks after surgery, rat ghrelin (100 microg/kg SC BID) or saline was administered for 3 weeks. Echocardiography and cardiac catheterization were performed. Serum GH and insulin-like growth factor-1 were significantly higher in both CHF and sham rats treated with ghrelin than in those given placebo (P<0.05 for both). CHF rats given placebo showed an impaired increase in body weight compared with sham rats given placebo (P<0.05). CHF rats treated with ghrelin, however, showed a significantly greater increase in body weight than those given placebo (+10% versus +3%, P<0.05). They showed significantly higher cardiac output (315+/-49 versus 266+/-31 mL. min(-1). kg(-1), P<0.05) and LV dP/dt(max) (5738+/-908 versus 4363+/-973 mm Hg/s, P<0.05) than CHF rats given placebo. Ghrelin increased diastolic thickness of the noninfarcted posterior wall, inhibited LV enlargement, and increased LV fractional shortening in CHF rats (from 15+/-3% to 19+/-3%, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Chronic subcutaneous administration of ghrelin improved LV dysfunction and attenuated the development of LV remodeling and cardiac cachexia in rats with CHF.
Nagaya et al. (Tue,) studied this question.