The importance of Notch-1 in cardiac myofibroblast generation is consistent with previous in vitro observations showing that down-regulation of this pathway in neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts is necessary for their differentiation into α-sma-positive myofibroblasts [25] and with a recent study on an in vivo model of mouse cardiac hypertrophy underscoring its potential significance in cardiac fibrotic response. This evidence concerns the gene NOTCH1 and cardiac hypertrophy.