NPPA and cardiac hypertrophy: By quantitative RT-PCR, we found that hearts from the TAC-operated Corin KO mice had increased levels of Nppa, Nppb, Myh7, which were associated cardiac hypertrophy, and Ctgf, which was associated with cardiac fibrosis, compared with those in the sham-operated Corin KO mice (Figures 8A–D).