title: Effect of prenatal dexamethasone on postnatal serum and urinary angiotensin II levels.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prenatal programming of hypertension has been described in humans and in animal models that receive a prenatal insult, but the mechanism for the increase in blood pressure remains elusive.
  
  
  METHODS
  In male rats whose mothers received dexamethasone between days 15 and 18 of gestation systemic and urinary levels of angiotensin II were measured to determine whether angiotensin II was a potential factor for the generation (4 weeks of age) or maintenance (8 weeks of age) of hypertension.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A group 4- and 8-week-old male rats that were the product of a pregnancy where the mother received prenatal dexamethasone between days 15 and 18 of gestation had comparable plasma renin and angiotensin II levels to the offspring of vehicle-treated controls. Renal angiotensin II levels were not different at 4 and 8 weeks of age between the controls and the prenatal dexamethasone group. Urine angiotensin II/Creatinine levels, a reflection of filtered and renally generated and secreted angiotensin II, were higher at both 4 and 8 weeks of age in male rats that received prenatal dexamethasone compared to controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high-urine angiotensin II levels in prehypertensive and hypertensive rats that were the product of mothers that received dexamethasone compared to vehicle suggest that luminal angiotensin II may play a role in the generation and maintenance of hypertension in this model of prenatal programming.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dagan
authors.forename: Jyothsna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gattineni
authors.forename: Sabeen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baum
mesh_terms: D000804:Angiotensin II / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D000818:Animals; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D000804:Angiotensin II; D003907:Dexamethasone; D003404:Creatinine