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Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume 17
Issue 2
10.4414/cvm.2014.00211
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Cardiovascular Medicine is published by MDPI from Volume 28 Issue 1 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by MDPI on mdpi.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Editores Medicorum Helveticorum (EMH).
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Editorial

Role of Foetal Programming and Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Arterial Hypertension

by
Emrush Rexhaj
,
Stefano F. Rimoldi
,
Roman Brenner
,
Agim Pireva
,
David Cerny
,
Robert Von Arx
,
Claudio Sartori
,
Urs Scherrer
and
Yves Allemann
*
Department of Cardiology, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cardiovasc. Med. 2014, 17(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.4414/cvm.2014.00211
Submission received: 19 November 2013 / Revised: 19 December 2013 / Accepted: 19 January 2014 / Published: 19 February 2014
Versions Notes

Abstract

Essential hypertension remains poorly understood, despite the enormous efforts of research, which brought understanding of certain physiopathological and treatment mechanisms. New insights have emerged from recent data showing that environmental insults during (in vitro) fertilisation, foetal, perinatal and childhood periods may lead to vascular dysfunction and hypertension later in life (the foetal programming of adult disease hypothesis, also called the “Barker hypothesis”). In line with this hypothesis, we recently reported that apparently young healthy children born after a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia or born after in vitro fertilisation display a marked generalised vascular dysfunction, which may predispose them to premature cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. New data from animal studies strongly suggest that epigenetic alterations are important underpinning mechanisms involved in these vascular abnormalities. Preliminary animal data suggest that pharmacological interventions targeted at these epigenetic modifications may avoid premature cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Keywords: hypertension; vascular dysfunction; in vitro fertilisation; preeclampsia; foetal programming of adult disease hypothesis; Barker hypothesis; epigenetics hypertension; vascular dysfunction; in vitro fertilisation; preeclampsia; foetal programming of adult disease hypothesis; Barker hypothesis; epigenetics

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MDPI and ACS Style

Rexhaj, E.; Rimoldi, S.F.; Brenner, R.; Pireva, A.; Cerny, D.; Von Arx, R.; Sartori, C.; Scherrer, U.; Allemann, Y. Role of Foetal Programming and Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Arterial Hypertension. Cardiovasc. Med. 2014, 17, 42. https://doi.org/10.4414/cvm.2014.00211

AMA Style

Rexhaj E, Rimoldi SF, Brenner R, Pireva A, Cerny D, Von Arx R, Sartori C, Scherrer U, Allemann Y. Role of Foetal Programming and Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Arterial Hypertension. Cardiovascular Medicine. 2014; 17(2):42. https://doi.org/10.4414/cvm.2014.00211

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rexhaj, Emrush, Stefano F. Rimoldi, Roman Brenner, Agim Pireva, David Cerny, Robert Von Arx, Claudio Sartori, Urs Scherrer, and Yves Allemann. 2014. "Role of Foetal Programming and Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Arterial Hypertension" Cardiovascular Medicine 17, no. 2: 42. https://doi.org/10.4414/cvm.2014.00211

APA Style

Rexhaj, E., Rimoldi, S. F., Brenner, R., Pireva, A., Cerny, D., Von Arx, R., Sartori, C., Scherrer, U., & Allemann, Y. (2014). Role of Foetal Programming and Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Arterial Hypertension. Cardiovascular Medicine, 17(2), 42. https://doi.org/10.4414/cvm.2014.00211

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