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(Hypertension. 2006;47:644.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial Commentaries

Genetic Determinants of Retinal Vascular Caliber

Additional Insights Into Hypertension Pathogenesis

Jie Jin Wang; Tien Yin Wong

From the Centre for Vision Research (J.J.W.), Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Centre for Eye Research Australia (T.Y.W.), University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; and Singapore Eye Research Institute (T.Y.W.), National University of Singapore, Singapore.

Correspondence to Jie Jin Wang, Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, C24 Westmead Hospital, NSW, Australia. E-mail jiejinwang@wmi.usyd.edu.au

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

It has long been hypothesized that the peripheral microcirculation plays a critical role in hypertension pathophysiology.^1,2 In its initial stages, elevated blood pressure (BP) elicits an autoregulatory process that results in an increased arteriolar tone, narrowing of precapillary arterioles, and an increase in peripheral vascular resistance. This process, in turn, augments additional BP elevation, creating a vicious cycle that is well known to hypertension researchers. However, scientific progress in this area has been partly limited by difficulties in evaluating the human peripheral microcirculation in vivo. In the last few years, advances in retinal photography and computing technologies have made feasible objective measurement of small vessel size from digital retinal images.³ Several large, population-based studies have applied these new techniques to quantitatively measure retinal vessel diameters and have documented a consistent gradient association between elevated BP and narrowed retinal arterioles.^3–6 Of greater significance, these studies now show that retinal arteriolar narrowing may also predict future BP elevation in previously normotensive persons.^7–9 Thus, generalized arteriolar narrowing seen in the retina may be viewed as a preclinical marker of hypertension.^7–10

A key question then is whether retinal arteriolar diameter or the susceptibility of these small vessels to hemodynamic insults, including BP levels within a normal range, is genetically determined. The study by Xing et al¹¹ in this issue of Hypertension is, therefore, important as being the first study to investigate the genetic basis of retinal vessel diameters using genome-wide linkage. In their population-based sample, Xing et al¹¹ found that retinal arteriolar and venular . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Genome-Wide Linkage Study of Retinal Vessel Diameters in the Beaver Dam Eye Study

Chao Xing, Barbara E.K. Klein, Ronald Klein, Gyungah Jun, Kristine E. Lee, and Sudha K. Iyengar
Hypertension 2006 47: 797-802. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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