title: Endothelial progenitor cells in prehypertension.
abstract: Blood pressure within prehypertensive levels confers higher cardiovascular risk. As prehypertension is also an intermediate stage for full hypertension, a precocious intervention with lifestyle changes or drugs is therefore appealing. Endothelial injury and dysfunction are thought to contribute to cardiovascular risk in prehypertension. Endothelial progenitor cell impairment has been linked to endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerotic disease progression and cardiovascular events. A potential mechanism contributing to the heightened cardiovascular risk in prehypertension may be linked to abnormalities in endothelial progenitor cell number and/or function. Aim of this review is to be up to date about the recent work on the correlation between endothelial progenitor cells and prehypertension and the possible prevention, treatment, and control of this pathology. The effect of an approach based on dietary intervention on both blood pressure and endothelial progenitor cells will be also shown.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. r.distefano@ao-pisa.toscana.it
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
authors.forename: Maria Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Barsotti
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Felice
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vlachopoulos
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balbarini
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension; D012307:Risk Factors; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*