Influence of long-term arotinolol treatment on myocardial mechanics and ventricular myosin isoenzymes in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Alterations in myocardial mechanics and left ventricular myosin isoenzymes by long-term treatment of hypertension with arotinolol were examined in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Approximately 20 mg/kg/day arotinolol was administered to 22-week-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats for 8-10 weeks. There was no significant difference in systolic blood pressure between arotinolol-treated and untreated rats. However, ventricular weight tended to decrease in the arotinolol-treated group, although not significantly. There were no significant differences in isometric developed tension and dT/dtmax of isolated left ventricular papillary muscles between the arotinolol-treated and untreated groups. The left ventricular myosin isoenzyme pattern, on the other hand, obtained by pyrophosphate gel electrophoresis, showed a significant shift toward VM-1 as a result of long-term arotinolol treatment.