Eprosartan improves cardiac performance, reduces cardiac hypertrophy and mortality and downregulates myocardial monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and inflammation in hypertensive heart disease

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether angiotensin II receptor (AII1R) antagonism interferes with cardiac monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and failure. DESIGN: We studied the effects of the AII1R antagonist eprosartan on MCP-1 expression, and on the recruitment of macrophages into the myocardium in a model of cardiac hypertrophy and morbidity/mortality. METHODS: Stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats fed a high-salt, high-fat diet (SFD) developed heart failure characterized by left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy/pathology and hypocontractility. These rats received either normal diet, SFD, or SFD with the daily administration of 30 mg/kg eprosartan for 28 weeks. LV function and wall thickness was assessed by echocardiography, MCP-1 expression was measured by TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemistry, and macrophage infiltration into the LV was determined by microscopy. RESULTS: Eprosartan reduced the rate of morbidity/mortality (P = 0.001), LV MCP-1 mRNA (P < 0.05) and protein expression (P < 0.01), and LV macrophage infiltration (P < 0.01), while preserving ventricular function (P < 0.05). Eprosartan also produced a moderate (16%; P < 0.05) decrease in blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that AII1R antagonism in an animal model of hypertensive heart disease reduces MCP-1 expression in the myocardium that results in reduced macrophage recruitment. These effects parallel the preservation of LV systolic function and the reduction in cardiac remodeling/disease progression and reduced morbidity/mortality. Suppression of MCP-1 expression might explain in part the beneficial effects of AII1R antagonism in this model.