P-35 Quality-of-Care Indicators in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Can Be Improved by a Continuous Quality Improvement Program

DS rats exhibited LV hypertrophy at 11 weeks, and decreased systolic function at 18 weeks. LV mRNA levels of LOX-1 indicated a 4.7-fold increase in DS rats compared with control salt-resistant Dahl (DR) rats at 11 weeks, and a 32fold increase at 18 weeks. Immunohistochemistry revealed that LOX-1 expression in vessel walls and cardiomyocytes were greater in DS than DR rat hearts. The mRNA levels of LOX-1 were significantly correlated with blood pressure, LV/body weight ratio, LV wall thickness, and LV end-systolic dimension, and strongly correlated with the decrease of ejection fraction (r = 0.772) and the increases of BNP levels on plasma (r = 0.744) and mRNA (r = 0.814). Importantly, the mRNA levels of LOX-1 revealed the strongest correlation with a chemotactic factor MCP-1 (r = 0.943), and proinflammatory cytokines TGF-b1 (r = 0.936) and IL-1b (r = 0.760). These findings demonstrate that LV expression of LOX-1 is markedly increased in DS rat model of hypertension and possibly involved in chronic inflammation during the development of heart failure.