A variety of agonists including phenylephrine (PE) induce hypertrophy in neonatal
ventricular cardiomyocytes. Here we report that signals provided by extracellular matrix
proteins (ECM) augment the PE-induced hypertrophic response of cardiomyocytes and
provide evidence that ECM-dependent signaling is mediated in part by the protein tyrosine
kinase, focaladhesion kinase (FAK). Addition of PE to cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes
stimulated sarcomeric organization, increased cell size, and induced atrial natriuretic factor …