Although this hypothesis appears accurate when comparing NO-mediated stimulation of sGC (e.g., via muscarinic receptor activation or NO-donors) with sGC activators (e.g., BAY 58-2667; Stasch et al., 2006, GSK2181236A), other than differential effects on cardiac hypertrophy, there was no clear differentiation between NO-independent sGC stimulation and activation in the present study. This evidence concerns the gene SGCB and cardiac hypertrophy.