A, Western blot of right atrial tissue from adult (16 to 18 wk, 350–380 g) Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats who received right atrial percutaneous injection and viral gene transfer 5 d before dissection. B, Representative raw data traces showing [3H]-norepinephrine (NE) release from 350 to 380 g SD rat right atria in response to stellate stimulation (5 Hz, 1 minute), samples taken every 3 minutes, arrow indicates the time point at which the right stellate was stimulated, data point after stimulation taken as the peak in counts per minute (cpm). C, SERCA2a (sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2a) expression is significantly higher in atria receiving Ad-mCherry-SERCA2a gene transfer (S) than those receiving Ad-mCherry empty gene transfer (E) in which only endogenous SERCA2a is seen. No SERCA2A expression in skeletal muscle (SK) negative control, β-actin loading control expressed in all lanes. **P<0.01. D, Group mean data of delta CPM of [3H]-NE release (empty; n=7; SERCA; n=8). *P<0.05.