[Endothelial dysfunction and cardiac performance in untreated hypertension]

Similar to endothelial modulation of vascular tone, nitric oxide (NO) released from the coronary and endocardial endothelium may modulated LV performance with an improvement of LV diastolic distensibility. The aim of the present study was to assess a potential relationship between endothelial function and LV performance in essential hypertension. Thirty-nine normotensive subjects (NT) and 46 never treated hypertensive patients (HT) were grouped according to the renal vasodilatatory response to infusion of L-arginine (30 g within 60 min). HT patients responders to L-arginine (n = 19) were defined by an increased > or = 5% of renal plasma flow (RPF) estimated by the clearance of I-Hippuran. LV mass index and afterload-corrected fractional shortening were determined by echocardiography. Mitral peak early (E) and late (A) diastolic flow velocity were assessed by Doppler. Results of ANOVA were (means +/- SD): [table: see text] In HT patients E/A was positively correlated with %RPF (r = 0.27; p < 0.01) and negatively correlated with age (r = -0.52 p < 0.01) and systolic BP (r = -0.36 p < 0.01). In multiple regression analysis the relation between E/A and %RPF was dependent of age. This results confirm that aging and hypertension are the main determinants of the alteration of LV diastolic function. The link between these factors may be the endothelium which abnormal regulatory function secondary to aging and HT may be associated to an impairment of NO dependent LV relaxation.