NPPB and cardiac hypertrophy: In addition, we used real-time PCR analysis to examine the mRNA expression of markers of cardiac hypertrophy, including atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC), α-myosin heavy chain (α-MHC) and sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2α).