MME and congestive heart failure: Figures 5E,I depict the expression and abundance of this enzyme in the renal tissue of the studied experimental groups, respectively. While NEP immunoreactivity was significantly increased in the kidney of compensated CHF animals (1.51 ± 0.51; P < 0.01), it slightly decreased in the decompensated animals (0.57 ± 0.28; P = NS) compared with controls (1.0 ± 0.05). NEP expression was significantly decreased in decompensated animals (0.51 ± 0.03; P < 0.0001) but did not change in the compensated subgroup (1.0 ± 0.07; P = NS), as compared with shams (1.0 ± 0.01).