Stress, Genes, and Hypertension. Contribution of the ISIAH Rat Strain Study

AbstractPurpose of ReviewAcute psychoemotional stress is one of the causes of a sharp increase in blood pressure. However, the question if the stress may promote the hypertensive disease development is still open. This review aims, firstly, to show that the genetically determined enhanced responsiveness to stress is linked to sustained hypertension development and, secondly, to characterize the main physiological mechanisms and genetic factors implicated in the pathogenesis of stress-sensitive hypertension.Recent FindingsRecent findings helped to characterize the main neuroendocrine mechanisms and the specificity of the genetic background contributing to the stress-sensitive hypertension development in the ISIAH rats.SummaryThe ISIAH rat strain, which is an original model of the stress-sensitive arterial hypertension, can be considered as “living” proof that the genetic predisposition to increased stress-reactivity can lead to the development of persistent stress-dependent arterial hypertension. The ISIAH rat strain is characterized by the genetically determined enhanced response of the neuroendocrine and renal regulatory systems to stress and is a suitable model that allows one to explore the genetic and physiological mechanisms involved in stress-sensitive hypertension development. There are common genetic loci (QTLs) associated with both basal and stress-induced blood pressure (BP) levels as well as QTLs associated with BP and other traits, which may be related to hype...

Source: Current Hypertension Reports - June 16, 2018 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research