3.2.2. ANP mRNA

ANP as a marker of ventricular hypertrophy in 10-week-old untreated SHRs was 13.3 ± 4.0. After 3 weeks of treatment, age-matched SHRs presented a value of 4.3 ± 0.8 (*p* = 0.775), which is a treatment effect of 67.8 ± 6.0%. There was a significant effect of age on ANP expression (*p* < 0.001): In 82-week-old untreated SHRs, it was 235.4 ± 43.8, and 22 weeks of treatment decreased it to 45.7 ± 10.9; *p* < 0.001; Figure 3A). The treatment effect was 80.6 ± 4.6%, which is in the same range as in ySHRs (*p* = 0.118; Figure 3B) despite a much longer period of treatment.
