Digitoxin treatment and experimental cardiac hypertrophy in the rat

Cardiac hypertrophy was produced in rats by constricting the abdominal aorta. When the animals were digitalized before the operation the development of cardiac hypertrophy, as well as the increase in the content and labelling of myocardial proteins, could be prevented. However, in spite of treatment with digitoxin a significant increase both in the content and labelling of myocardial RNA was seen in animals with constriction of the aorta. The results indicate that as digitoxin treatment prevents the cardiac hypertrophy it interferes with protein synthesis through a mechanism which has smaller effects on RNA synthesis.