NPPB and atherosclerosis: During cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis, cardiomyocytes are exposed to continuous mechanical stress and neurohumoral stimulation, resulting to reactivation of fetal genes such as atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and β-Myosin Heavy Chain (β-MHC), protein synthesis, sarcomere assembly and ultimately enhancement of cell surface area (Souders et al., 2009; Maillet et al., 2013; van Berlo et al., 2013; Oka et al., 2014; Lyon et al., 2015).