Myocardial hypertrophy and hemodynamic changes in rats exposed to cigarette smoke

Abstract

Introduction: It is predicted that smoking promotes changes in the myocardium; however, the morpho-functional mechanisms remain obscure. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the morpho-functional influences of cigarette smoke in heart of rats. Methods: Male Wistar rats, divided into two groups: F, smoker (n=10), exposed to cigarettes smoke, and C, control (n=10), exposed to ambient air, both, twice a day, eight consecutive weeks. Biometric and hemodynamic parameters were measured. Results: F had lower body weight gain, and myocardial mass absolute (1014 ± 31 mg) and indexed (2.60 ± 0.07 mg/g) were higher compared to C (770 ± 12 mg and 2.2 ± 0.04 mg/g, respectively). The + dP/dt was greater in F (15870 ± 188 mmHg/s) versus C (12800 ± 78 mmHg/s). Conclusion: This study showed that rats exposed to chronic smoke have trend to attenuation in body weight gain, myocardial remodeling and increased + dP/dt left ventricular.