The purpose of the present study was to gain a better understanding of the relation between ventricular remodeling and heart failure by assessing the adaptation of the heart through time to graded myocardial injury in the presence of a patent coronary circulation. Left ventricular (LV) remodeling is a dynamic response of the heart to injury and a critical component in the development of heart failure. However, most previous studies have been in the presence of an occluded coronary vessel, which may in itself effect remodeling. Male Wistar rats received two subcutaneous injections of either 0, 85, 170, or 340 mg isoproterenol per kilogram of body weight. At 2, 6, and 16 weeks after injection, LV pressure, the pressure-volume relation, and histology were assessed. The graded myocardial necrosis produced in isoproterenol-treated rats was associated with dose-dependent increases in LV end-diastolic pressure, volume indexes, and global diastolic wall stress. In the higher dose groups, the LV continued to enlarge after 2 weeks, resulting in a further reduction in the ratio of LV mass to volume and a persistent rise in diastolic wall stress. These progressive changes in LV structure were associated with an increase in long-term mortality in rats from the intermediate- and high-isoproterenol dose groups. The present study in rats demonstrates that diffuse isoproterenol-induced myocardial necrosis results in a progressive enlargement of the LV cavity that is out of proportion to mass, a finding similar to that observed in discrete myocardial infarction.