NPPA and cardiac hypertrophy: We also assessed the relative levels of genes expressed during the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy, such as atrial natriuretic peptide (Nppa)24, brain natriuretic peptide (Nppb)24, regulator of calcineurin 1 (Rcan1)25 and the fibrosis marker collagen type I alpha (Col1-α)26.