RESEARCH Evolution of cardiac and r r

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with renovas-cular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) [1-3]. Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is associated with renin-angiotensin system driven hypertension, which initiates a cascade of biological events including mechanical signalling, leading to left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH) and dysfunction [4,5]. In addition to traditional causes of CVD such as hypertension, the progression of CVD may be related to the duration and severity of non-traditional risk factors, such as renal hypoxia and oxidative stress [6,7]. This has attracted a great deal of interest to study the longitudinal association between RAS, renovas-cular hypertension and CVD, such as LV dysfunction [8]. The two-kidney, one-clip (2K, 1C) model is often used to induce renovascular hypertension in small animals [9,10]