The molecular basis of pediatric hypertension.
Blood pressure, the product of cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance, follows a circadian rhythm and is altered by a host of circulating and local substances and by many physiologic events. The number of genes, signaling pathways, and systems involved in blood pressure regulation is enormous, and dissecting those factors that are most important in hypertension has proven challenging. This article discusses molecular mechanisms of hypertension in several conditions in which mutations in a single gene give rise to hypertension and then considers the contribution of these and other genes to essential hypertension.
Ingelfinger
Julie R
JR
Pediatric Nephrology, Yawkey 6C, MassGeneral Hospital for Children at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jingelfinger@partners.org
D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods; D009154:Mutation