INTRODUCTION: The pulmonary trunk (PT) banding has been used to promote rapid left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy in patients with transposition of the great vessels (TGV) with intact septum, treated after the neonatal period. This procedure carries a high morbidity and mortality rates. Genetic alterations of the cardiomyocytes resulting from acute hypertrophy have not been evaluated in models of variable systolic overload of the subpulmonary ventricle. In order to evaluate the activity of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in acute right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy, a balloon catheter was implanted in the PT of six young goats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Systolic overload was carried out throughout progressive balloon insufflations for a period of 96 hours. Hypertrophy was followed by daily hemodynamic and echocardiographic evaluations. At the end of the 96 hours, the animals were killed to harvest the heart. The ventricles and septum were weighted separately. Samples of each cardiac muscle were collected for ACE analysis. Eight goats (with similar age and weight) were used as control for weight and ACE activity. RESULTS: At the end of the protocol, the following parameters were increased: RV/PT gradient (p=0.001), RV to LV ratio (p=0.005), thickness of the free wall of RV (p=0.002) and RV weight (p=0.002). The evaluation of ACE activity showed an increase only in the hypertrophied RV muscle (p=0.002), indicating a high correlation with the increase in the RV to LV ratio (r=0.87). CONCLUSION: The progressive systolic overload in the RV of goats induces ventricular hypertrophy. This hypertrophy is related to a significant increase in ACE activity, an important molecular marker of this process.
Hypertrophy right ventricle; Hypertrophy right ventricle; Transposition of great vessels; Cardiac surgical procedures
