Aldosterone facilitates cardiovascular damage by increasing blood pressure and through different mechanisms that are independent of its effects on blood pressure. In this respect, recent evidence involves aldosterone in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome. Although this relationship is complex, there is some evidence suggesting that different factors may play an important role, such as insul...

The primary adrenocortical steroids are aldosterone, synthesized in the outermost layer of cells of the adrenal cortex, the zona glomerulosa; and cortisol and corticosterone, synthesized in the next layer, or zona fasciculata. Young et al. (1) have presented data in this journal complementing other suggestions that the heart is capable of synthesizing adrenocortical steroids that have physiolog...

Aldosterone induces extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent cardiac remodeling. Fenofibrate improves cardiac remodeling in adult rat ventricular myocytes (ARVM) partly via inhibition of aldosterone-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation and inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases. We sought to determine whether aldosterone caused apoptosis in cultured ARVM and whether fenofibrate ameliora...

BACKGROUND Aldosterone and angiotensin (Ang) II both may cause organ damage. Circulating aldosterone is produced in the adrenals; however, local cardiac synthesis has been reported. Aldosterone concentrations depend on the activity of aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2). We tested the hypothesis that reducing aldosterone by inhibiting CYP11B2 or by adrenalectomy (ADX) may ameliorate organ damage. Fu...

Our understanding of the effects of aldosterone and its mechanisms has increased substantially in recent years, probably because of the importance of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonists in several major cardiovascular diseases. Recent clinical studies have confirmed the benefits of MR antagonists in patients with heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarctio...

three siblings (1 boy, 2 girls) with hypertension and hypokalemia are presented, two with low plasma aldosterone and suppressed renin activity and the eldest with a high renin and aldosterone level due to secondary changes in her kidneys. urinary tetrahydrocortisol (thf) was increased relative to tetrahydrocortisone (the). cortisol ring a reduction constant was also lower than normal. these fin...

To the Editor: We congratulate Dr Schiffrin for his excellent review on the effects of aldosterone on the vasculature. 1 Recent reports have clearly demonstrated the endocrine properties of aldosterone have assumed a broader perspective, with nonclassic actions acting on nonepithelial cells and in nonrenal target tissues including the heart and the kidney. Dr Schiffrin extends this formulation ...

Elevated aldosterone levels induce a spironolactone-inhibitable decrease in cardiac sarcolemmal Na+-K+ pump function. Because pump inhibition has been shown to contribute to myocyte hypertrophy, restoration of Na+-K+ pump function may represent a possible mechanism for the cardioprotective action of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) blockade. The present study examines whether treatment with the ...

OBJECTIVE The comorbidity of excess salt and elevated plasma aldosterone has deleterious effects in cardiovascular disease. We evaluated the mechanisms behind the paradoxical increase in aldosterone biosynthesis in relation to dietary intake of salt. METHODS AND RESULTS Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl-S) and salt-resistant (Dahl-R) rats were fed a high-salt diet, and plasma and tissue levels of ald...

Aldosterone lowers protein kinase C (PKC) activity in myocyte-enriched cultures from neonatal Sprague-Dawley rat hearts, with activity measured by the transfer of phosphate to myristolated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate, in the presence of Ca2+, phosphatidylserine, and diolein. The effect is rapid, with a significant effect after 1 min exposure, half maximal at < or = 1 nM aldosterone, with st...