Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension
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Regulator of G-protein signaling 2 (RGS2) is a key molecule in signal pathways of vasoactive peptides, such as angiotensin II and endothelin 1, and is believed to have an important role in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. We have previously reported that common polymorphisms of RGS2 are associated with hypertension in Japanese. In this study, we studied whether the three previously identified common polymorphisms of RGS2 (-638A>G, 1026T>A and 1891-1892delTC) could be implicated in carotid atherosclerosis in Japanese patients with hypertension (459 men and 382 woman) and in a Japanese general population (814 men and 956 woman). ⋯ When subjects with atherosclerotic lesions were defined as having mean-IMT≥1.0 mm, multivariate logistic regression analysis performed after adjusting for confounding factors showed a significant association of the three common polymorphisms, -638A>G (AA versus AG+GG: odds ratio (OR), 1.55; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.105-2.185; P=0.0113 only for the general population), 1026T>A (TT versus TA+AA: OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.027-1.972; P=0.034 for hypertensive subjects and OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.129-2.151; P=0.0071 for the general population), and 1891-1892delTC (II versus ID+DD: OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.043-2.008; P=0.028 for hypertensive subjects, OR, 1.32; 95% CI 1.002-1.742; P=0.048 for the total general population and OR 1.59; 95% CI 1.155-2.207; P=0.0047 for the general population), with carotid atherosclerosis. When atherosclerosis was defined as M-IMT 1.0 mm, the values of M-IMT were also significantly different between the three genotypes in the three common polymorphisms. Taken together, these data suggest that genetic polymorphisms in RGS2 are associated with intima-media thickening of carotid artery in humans.
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It is unclear which blood pressure (BP) components (that is, systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP)) are superior predictors of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Furthermore it is unclear whether the combination of SBP+DBP or PP+MAP is superior to any of these four individual BP components in predicting CKD. We enrolled 9928 Japanese men aged 40-55 years who had a normal estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), no proteinuria and no history of cardiovascular disease and were not taking any antihypertensive medications at baseline. ⋯ The combination models including SBP+DBP (ΔAIC 8.42) or PP+MAP (8.42) were not superior to the models including DBP- or MAP-alone. These findings suggested that, of the four BP components, both DBP and MAP were the most useful predictors for subsequent incidence of CKD, but PP was not an important predictor. The combination model, including SBP+DBP or PP+MAP, was not superior to the models including DBP- or MAP-alone for predicting CKD.
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The aim of this study was to verify whether a 1-year interdisciplinary weight-loss program improved common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and whether insulin resistance and/or inflammation (as measured by the markers plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 and adiponectin) might underlie obesity in adolescents. A group of 29 post-pubescent obese adolescents were submitted to an interdisciplinary intervention over the course of 1 year. Common carotid artery IMT was determined ultrasonographically. ⋯ Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the difference between baseline and final values of HOMA-IR (ΔHOMA-IR) was negatively correlated with concomitant changes in the adiponectin concentration (Δadiponectin; r=-0.42; P=0.02) and positively correlated with changes in common carotid artery IMT (Δcarotid IMT; r=0.41; P=0.03). Multiple regression analysis adjusted by age, cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory markers showed that ΔHOMA-IR was an independent predictor of significant changes in common carotid artery IMT. This investigation demonstrated that an interdisciplinary weight-loss program promoted a reduction of the common carotid artery IMT in obese Brazilian adolescents, and the improvement of HOMA-IR was an independent predictor of carotid IMT changes in this population.
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Chronic hypertension (CH) is a common chronic disease and occurs frequently in pregnant women. The teratogenic/fetotoxic effect of certain antihypertensive drugs has been shown. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between pregnant women with CH and the possible risk of congenital abnormalities (CAs) among their offspring. ⋯ Of 23 different CA groups with informative offspring, esophageal atresia/stenosis was a greater risk in pregnant women with CH (adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals: 3.1, 1.4-6.8). In conclusion, a higher risk of esophageal atresia/stenosis was found in the offspring of pregnant women with severe CH, which could not be explained by related drug treatments. This finding requires confirmation or lack thereof by future studies.
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Increased vascular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS; termed oxidative stress) has been implicated in various chronic diseases, including hypertension. Oxidative stress is both a cause and a consequence of hypertension. Although oxidative injury may not be the sole etiology, it amplifies blood pressure elevation in the presence of other pro-hypertensive factors. ⋯ Oxidative stress is implicated in endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, hypertrophy, apoptosis, migration, fibrosis, angiogenesis and rarefaction, important processes involved in vascular remodeling in hypertension. Despite a plethora of data implicating oxidative stress as a causative factor in experimental hypertension, findings in human hypertension are less conclusive. This review highlights the importance of ROS in vascular biology and focuses on the potential role of oxidative stress in human hypertension.