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(Hypertension. 2005;46:1213.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Articles

Sympathectomy or Doxazosin, But Not Propranolol, Blunt Myocardial Interstitial Fibrosis in Pressure-Overload Hypertrophy

Stefano Perlini; Giuseppina Palladini; Ivana Ferrero; Rossana Tozzi; Silvia Fallarini; Angelica Facoetti; Rosanna Nano; Francesca Clari; Giuseppe Busca; Roberto Fogari; Alberto U. Ferrari

From Clinica Medica II (S.P., G.P., I.F., R.T., F.C., R.F.), IRCCS San Matteo, Università di Pavia; Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e IGM-CNR (S.F., A.F., R.N.), Dipartimento di Istochimica e Citochimica, Università di Pavia; Clin Med Gen (G.B.), IRCCS Osp Maggiore, Centro Interuniversitario di Fisiologia Clinica e Ipertensione (S.P., A.U.F.), Monza and Pavia; Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Prevenzione e Biotecnologie Sanitarie (I.F., A.U.F.), Università Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Correspondence to Alberto U. Ferrari, Centro Fisiologia Clinica e Ipertensione, Via F. Sforza, 35, 20122 Milano, Italy. E-mail auferrari{at}unimib.it

The adaptive changes that develop in the pressure-overloaded left ventricular (LV) myocardium include cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis. Although the former is known to depend to a sizeable extent on sympathetic (over)activity, little information exists whether the same applies to the latter, ie, whether excess catecholamine exposure contributes to the imbalance between collagen deposition by fibroblasts and degradation by matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), eventually leading to LV collagen accumulation. Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to abdominal aortic banding (B) or sham operation (S) and treated with ß-blockade (Bb, oral propranolol, 40 mg/kg per day), chemical sympathectomy (Sx, 6-hydroxydopamine, 150 mg/kg intraperitoneal twice per week) or vehicle (Vh). Ten weeks later, systolic blood pressure, LV weight, collagen abundance (computer-aided histology), zymographic matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 activity and its specific tissue inhibitor concentration (TIMP-2) were measured. Both sympathectomy and ß-blockade failed to attenuate the banding-induced blood pressure elevation but significantly attenuated the attendant LV hypertrophy. As expected, pressure-overload hypertrophy was associated with interstitial fibrosis (collagen: 4.37±1.23% BVh versus 1.23±0.44% SVh, P<0.05), which was abolished by sympathectomy (2.55±1.31%, P=not significant versus SSx) but left unchanged by ß-blockade (4.11±1.23%, P<0.05 versus both SBb and BSx). ß-blockade, but not sympathectomy, was also associated with an increased TIMP-2/MMP-2 ratio (P<0.05), indicating reduced interstitial collagenolytic activity. In separate groups of banded and sham-operated rats, treatment with the -receptor blocker doxazosin (10 mg/kg per day) displayed similar antifibrotic and biochemical effects as sympathectomy. Thus in the course of experimental pressure overload, the sympathetic nervous system plays a major pro-fibrotic role, which is mediated via -adrenergic but not ß-adrenergic receptors.

Key Words: collagen • extracellular matrix • fibrosis • heart failure • hypertrophy • sympathectomy

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