Epigenetic Mechanisms of Blood-Pressure Regulation

Resumo

The role of epigenetic mechanisms involved in blood-pressure regulation has been reviewed. It is known that some periods in early pre- and postnatal ontogenesis are very sensitive to some environmental and endogenous influences. These periods are characterized as highly vulnerable to the formation of a complex of epigenetic changes that may determine the trajectory of the further formation of physiological systems involved in the blood-pressure regulation. Early life influences on these systems may predispose an individual to the development of hypertensive disease in further life. In some cases, the transmission of epigenetic changes to the next generations may resolve the contradiction between the high heritability of arterial hypertensive disease and the low total contribution of polymorphic DNA variants in the population variability of blood pressure values.