Table 3. Echocardiographic data of DS rats.

	11 week-old		18 week-old
	LS	HS	LS	HS
Number of animals	20	52	20	52
Heart rate (bpm)	336 ± 11	369 ± 8*	333 ± 8	405 ± 10*
Diastolic PWT (mm)	1.46 ± 0.04	1.95 ± 0.04*	1.26 ± 0.05	1.39 ± 0.03*
LVDd (mm)	7.22 ± 0.21	6.56 ± 0.11*	8.25 ± 0.16	7.42 ± 0.11*
LVDs (mm)	3.27 ± 0.27	2.29 ± 0.11*	4.21 ± 0.16	4.49 ± 0.13
FS (%)	55.8 ± 2.8	65.6 ± 1.3*	49.2 ± 1.2	39.5 ± 1.4*

Values are expressed as the mean ± SEM.

* P < 0.05 versus LS at the same age.

DS rats, Dahl salt-sensitive rats; LS, rats fed a low-salt diet; HS, rats fed a high-salt diet;

PWT, posterior wall thickness; LVDd, left ventricular diastolic dimension;

LVDs, left ventricular systolic dimension; FS, fractional shortening;

SEM, standard error of the mean.