Table 1.

Morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics of hamster groups

	C group (n=10)	HT group (n=15)
BW [g]	103.6±12.3	116.4±12.8*
LVW [mg]	319.9±15.3	445.1±19.9*
LVW/BW [mg g–1]	3.09±0.11	3.85±0.17*
Heart rate [beats min–1]	321.4±6.2	390.4±2.3*
P [mmHg]	83±1.6	158±5.5*
dP/dt max [mmHg s–1]	1922.2±235.2	3268.3±84.8*
dP/dt min [mmHg s–1]	841.2±16.7	1433.8±176.6
NOx [μmol L–1]	21.3±2.1	9.5±1.8*
Blood glucose [mg dL–1]	65.7±5.5	58.6±4.2
Serum cholesterol [mg dL–1]	118.06±6.7	108.6±5.8
Serum ACE activity [nmol His–Leu mL–1 min–1]	28.06±4.8	34.8±4.4

ACE: Angiotensin-converting enzyme; BW: Body weight; C: Control; His–Leu: Histidyl–leucine; HT: N^G-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced hypertensive animals; LVW: Left ventricular weight; n: No. of animals; P: Mean arterial pressure; dP/dt: Rate of change (rise or decline) of pressure with respect to time. Values are expressed as means ± standard error of the mean (SEM); *p<0.05 vs. C group