Rugale, Caroline, Sandrine Delbosc, Jean-Paul Cristol, Albert Mimran, and Bernard Jover. Sodium restriction prevents cardiac hypertrophy and oxidative stress in angiotensin II hypertension. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 284: H1744-H1750, 2003. First published December 5, 2002 10.1152/ajpheart.00864.2002The influence of a low-sodium (LS) diet was assessed on the cardiac and renal alterations and pro-oxidant effect associated with a 10-day infusion of angiotensin II (200 or 400 ng ⅐ kg Ϫ1 ⅐ min Ϫ1 , osmotic pumps). Tail-cuff pressure (TCP), albuminuria, and renal blood flow were determined at the end of the experiments. Heart weight index (HWI) and production of superoxide anion (O 2 Ϫ ⅐) by the left ventricle and H2O2 by the aorta was measured with the use of bioluminescence. Although the final TCP was similar in LS and normal sodium (NS) rats infused with high and low doses of angiotensin II, respectively, the increase in HWI was prevented by the LS diet. Sodium restriction reduced the rise in albuminuria without a change in the renal effect of angiotensin II. The increased production of O 2 Ϫ ⅐ and H2O2 observed in NS rats was abrogated in LS rats. The beneficial influence of dietary sodium restriction on target organ damage induced by angiotensin II is independent of arterial pressure reduction and possibly related to attenuation of the prooxidant effect of the peptide. heart weight; albuminuria; reactive oxygen species; renal hemodynamic THE DEVELOPMENT OF cardiac hypertrophy results from the interaction between several factors, including elevated arterial pressure, angiotensin II (ANG II), and sodium intake. Although blood pressure is an important determinant of cardiac mass (8), ANG II may directly increase protein synthesis and cause myocyte hypertrophy, as reported in cultured cardiac myocytes isolated from chicks (2) and neonatal rats (34). In vivo long-term administration of an initially subpressor dose of ANG II, a model that mimics the development of human hypertension, induces a gradual rise in blood pressure associated with a cardiac hypertrophy (7,14,17). However, ANG II might increase cardiac mass independently of arterial pressure. This was suggested by the presence of cardiac hypertrophy in rats infused with a nonpressor dose of the peptide (4, 37) or in rats infused with a pressor dose of ANG II and concomitantly treated by hydralazine (7, 37).The concentration of sodium ion in vitro or dietary sodium intake in vivo may modulate cardiac mass. In cultured neonatal rat myocardial myoblasts, cellular protein content and cell size increased when sodium concentration of the medium was augmented (15). In vivo, a high-sodium intake increased cardiac mass in normotensive rats (46) and exacerbated cardiac hypertrophy in hypertensive rats (12). In humans, sodium intake (assessed by urinary sodium excretion) and the left ventricular mass index were positively correlated in hypertensive and normotensive subjects (9). Conversely, a low-sodium (LS) intake prevents cardiac hypertrophy associated with two-k...