Cardiac hypertrophy, as reflected by increases in heart size, HW/BW and HW/TL ratios, myocyte cross‐sectional area, and ANF mRNA expression, became even more prominent in VEGFR‐3f/− mice than in VEGFR‐3f/f mice after TAC stress (Figures 3C‐3E). This evidence concerns the gene NPPA and cardiac hypertrophy.