Previous studies suggested that left ventricle papillary muscles from neurogenic hypertensive rats with 15 days of sino-aortic denervation (SAD) develop intense depression of their inotropic state. Considering that these animals have an increased cardiac sympathetic tonus that could produce the observed depression of the contractile response we did the present study simulating a cardiac sympathetic hyperactivity pretreating rats, during 15 days, with isoproterenol (IPA, 0.1 mg/kg, i.p., divided in 3 daily doses). Because SAD rats also develop hypertension, the effect of blood pressure overload was studied in rats with 15 days of renovascular hypertension (RHR), Goldblatt 1K1C, to compare, separated, the effects of sympathetic hyperactivity and hemodynamic overload. Results showed that RHR had muscles that developed larger force than their controls (C: 7.31 +/- 0.34 g/mm2, RHR: 12.8 +/- 0.40 g/mm2), meanwhile IPA pretreated rats had muscles developing less force than their respective controls (C: 13.8 +/- 0.37 g/mm2, IPA: 8.61 +/- 0.24 g/mm2). These results are according to the proposition that the contractile state depression is related to the sympathetic hyperactivity, as suggested by the IPA pre-treated group and because the animals with isolated pressure overload showed a better contractile performance when compared to their uninephrectomized controls.