ongestive heart failure carries a grave prognosis, with a mortality rate of over 50% within 5 years of diagnosis. 1,2 The progressive nature of the disease is due in part to a series of neurohumoral homeostatic responses that initially maintain cardiac output and tissue perfusion but ultimately prove deleterious by increasing cardiac work and further reducing cardiac function. 3,4 These responses include enhancement of sympathetic tone, alteration in regional vascular resistance, activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, and sodium retention.Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a peptide hormone of cardiac origin with multiple biologic effects including diuresis, natriuresis, vasodilatation, and inhibition of renin and aldosterone secretion. 5,6 Based on these properties, some studies have suggested a therapeutic role for ANP in congestive heart failure. 7,8 However, the therapeutic potential of ANP is limited by its peptidic nature and rapid elimination from circulation. Long-term therapy requires either an orally active analogue or an inhibitor of ANP metabolism. Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) is a major ANP-degrading enzyme, 9-11 and a new therapeutic approach has been developed by inhibiting the enzyme and potentiating the effects of endogenous ANP. 12-15 Beneficial acute hemodynamic and renal effects of (±)-candoxatrilat (UK69578), an NEP inhibitor, have been reported in patients with congestive heart failure. 12,13 Furthermore, reports about the effects of NEP inhibitors on cardiovascular remodeling have been published recently. 16,17 In patients with myocardial infarction, progressive left ventricular dilatation begins soon after myocardial infarction 18 and left ventricular volume is the most powerful predictor of prognosis. 19,20 In the rat model of chronic heart failure with coronary ligation, a time-dependent increase in ventricular volume was attenuated by chronic therapy with captopril, an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor 21 and, moreover, therapy with captopril had a pronounced effect on survival. 22 The aim of this study was to examine whether chronic treatment with the NEP inhibitor candoxatril (UK79300) would modify cardiac hypertrophy in the rat model of myocardial infarction. Candoxatril is an orally active indanyl ester prodrug of the compound candoxatrilat (UK73967), the active isomer of the racemic mixture known as (±)-candoxatrilat (UK69578). 12,13
MethodsAdult male Sprague-Dawley rats (Biological Research Laboratories, Austin Hospital, Victoria, Australia) weighing about 300 g were used for this study. These animal studies conformed to the guiding principles of the NHMRC/CSIRO code of conduct and were approved by
Effect of Chronic Neutral Endopeptidase Inhibition on Cardiac Hypertrophy after Experimental Myocardial InfarctionJpn Circ J 1998; 62: 680 -686 Kazunori Yoshida, MD; Minoru Yasujima, MD*; David J. Casley**; Colin I. Johnston, MD**Candoxatril is an inhibitor of neutral endopeptidase, a membrane-bound enzyme that degrades atrial natriuretic peptide. The ef...