AIM: To explore whether NF-?B activation participates in the activated Akt signaling-induced cardiac hypertrophy in vivo. METHODS: We used two in vivo models of cardiac hypertrophy, namely, aortic banding in Sprague-Dawley rats for 3 weeks and transgenic mice with cardiac specific expression of constitutively active Akt (caAkt). Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) was used to determine NF-?B binding activity with nuclear proteins extracted from heart tissues. Western blots were performed to examine the phosphorylation of Akt and phosphor-I?B? with appropriate specific anti-phospho antibodies. RESULTS: ① The heart weight/body weight (HW/BW) ratio was significantly increased by 34 5% ( P