title: Aldosterone and the vascular system.
abstract: Aldosterone can act in different tissues exerting physiological and pathological effects. At the vascular level, aldosterone affects endothelial function since administration of aldosterone impaired endothelium-dependent relaxations. In addition, the administration of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists ameliorate relaxation to acetylcholine in models of both hypertension and atherosclerosis and in patients with heart failure. A reduction in nitric oxide levels seems to be the main mechanism underlying this effect due to a reduction in its production as well as an increase in its degradation by reactive oxygen species. Aldosterone is a pro-inflammatory factor that can participate in the vascular inflammatory process associated with different pathologies including hypertension through activation of the NFkappaB system, which mediates the vascular production of different cytokines. This mineralocorticoid also participates in the vascular remodeling observed in hypertensive rats since the administration of eplerenone improved the media-to-lumen ratio in these animals. This effect seems to be due to an increase in extracellular matrix. In summary, aldosterone through mineralocorticoid receptors can participate in the vascular damage associated with different pathologies including hypertension through its prooxidant, pro-inflammatory and profibrotic effects that triggered endothelial dysfunction, an inflammatory process and vascular remodeling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. vcara@med.ucm.es
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cachofeiro
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miana
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Las Heras
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martín-Fernández
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ballesteros
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fernández-Tresguerres
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lahera
mesh_terms: D000450:Aldosterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D004727:Endothelium / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism; D014664:Vasodilation
chemical_list: D000450:Aldosterone