Hypertension

Hypertension is a medical condition defined as high blood pressure. Essential hypertension, or chronically high arterial blood pressure, remains one of the major risk factors for a variety of cardiovascular diseases, and results in pathological effects on many organs. Many factors have been associated with essential hypertension, but no direct cause has been identified. In contrast, diseases such as diabetes or chronic stress result in an overactive sympathetic nervous system, causing secondary hypertension. Normally, the renin-angiotensin system regulates blood pressure via hormonal signaling from the liver and kidney. Vascular endothelial cells respond to hormones and nerve impulses by releasing nitric oxide, causing the surrounding smooth muscles to relax. Endothelial dysfunction leads to an imbalance in vasoconstriction and vasodilation, causing hypertension. Target organs and tissues for hypertension pathology include the heart, kidney, liver, lung, capillaries, and smooth muscle. Analyzing these pathways should serve as an effective tool to unlock the molecular mechanisms governing the onset and progression of hypertension and the resulting cardiovascular diseases.

QIAGEN provides a broad range of assay technologies for hypertension research that enables analysis of gene expression and regulation, epigenetic modification, genotyping, and signal transduction pathway activation. Solutions optimized for hypertension studies include PCR array, miRNA, siRNA, mutation analysis, pathway reporter, chromatin IP, DNA methylation, and protein expression products.