MAPK8 and hypertensive disorder: In the present study, the ARB-treated hypertensive rats exhibited significantly milder apoptosis and lower IGF-II and p-JNK expression in the myocardium compared with untreated hypertension rats, suggesting that ARB may reduce Fas/FasL-mediated and mitochondria-mediated pathways activation to alleviate myocardial abnormalities in hypertensive rats by reducing the expression of IGF-II and p-JNK.