Cardiac Effects of Exercise Training in Hypertension

Abstract

Hypertension is a significant health concern. Hypertension leads to compensatory pathologic hypertrophy and impaired cardiac function. Lifestyle modifications such as exercise are encouraged for hypertensive patients. Some studies have shown that exercise training can reverse pathological hypertrophy. Conversely, studies on animal models of hypertension have shown increased cardiac growth with exercise training. Despite the further induction of hypertrophy, exercise training seems protective against cell death and may increase cardiomyocyte proliferation, leading to a putative phenotype. One of the hallmark beneficial effects of exercise in hypertension is an improvement in myocardial β adrenergic responsiveness. The focus of this paper is to discuss how exercise training impacts cardiac remodeling and function in the hypertensive heart with specific reference to β adrenergic signaling.