Functional variants of the angiotensinogen gene determine antihypertensive responses to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in subjects of African origin.

Objective: To determine whether the response to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) monotherapy in subjects of African origin is determined by genetic variants within the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene.

Methods: A total of 194 hypertensive patients of African ancestry were recruited from district clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa. Eighty patients received open-label ACEI (enalapril or lisinopril) monotherapy, and 114 open-label calcium antagonist (nifedipine) as a drug class comparator.

Impact of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system gene variants on the severity of hypertension in patients with newly diagnosed hypertension.

Background: The severity of hypertension has prognostic significance. Previous studies have assessed the relationship between renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) genotype and the severity of hypertension in either treated patients or those who have only recently discontinued treatment.

Methods: We assessed the impact of RAAS genotype on ambulatory and office blood pressure (BP) in 231 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients of African ancestry who had never received therapy.

T594M variant of the epithelial sodium channel beta-subunit gene and hypertension in individuals of African ancestry in South Africa.

Background: The T594M variant of the beta-subunit of the sodium epithelial channel (ENaC) gene may contribute to hypertension in individuals of African origin.

Methods: A case-control study was performed to assess the role of the ENaC gene variant as an independent risk factor for hypertension in subjects of African ancestry. The effects of the ENaC gene variant on ambulatory blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive individuals and on office BP in hypertensive individuals and control subjects were also assessed.

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of the stem bark extract of Mitragyna ciliata (Rubiaceae) Aubrév. & Pellegr.

Mitragyna ciliata is widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammation, hypertension, headache, rheumatism, gonorrhoea and broncho-pulmonary diseases. In the present study, the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of the stem bark extract of M. ciliata were investigated.

Association between an atrial natriuretic peptide gene polymorphism and normal blood pressure in subjects of African ancestry.

Aim: The roles of the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) gene and the clearance receptor of the ANP (NPRC) gene in hypertensive groups of African ancestry are unclear. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between both ANP and NPRC gene polymorphisms and hypertension in Black South Africans.

Methods: 298 patients, diagnosed as having essential hypertension according to 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) measurements (mean daytime diastolic BP> 90 mm Hg) whilst off medication, and 278 normotensive control subjects of a similar African ancestry, were genotyped for polymorphic markers in intron 2 (which is in complete linkage disequilibrium with a potentially functional exon 1 variant) and exon 3 (which leads to the extension of ANP by two additional arginines) of the ANP gene.