Target Organ Damage in Hypertension

This special issue is related to the main concern in hyper-tensive disease: the target-organ damage. The selected papers approach some aspects of renal and cerebral disease associated to hypertension but the principal focus is on the arterial vessel as the main organ involved in hypertensive patients. Although hypertensive cardiopathy is not specifically included in this issue, the heart disease might be considered as one of the principal consequences of vascular dysfunction discussed in many papers. Cardiovascular disease has been associated to a low level of chronic inflammatory state which may be an important mechanism leading to organ damage in hypertensive patients. Interestingly, the paper by D. A. B. Kasal and E. L. Schiffrin provides new evidences about the role of the T-regulatory lymphocytes, showing that this population of lymphocytes may inhibit the inflammatory process resulting in beneficial effects on vascular disease in hypertension. This review also establishes the linkage between the immune response, renin angiotensin aldosterone system, and oxida-tive stress. Recently, the same authors published original papers reporting that T-regulatory lymphocytes were able to prevent vascular injury mediated by angiotensin II and aldos-terone by suppressing inflammation and oxidative stress and improving endothelial function in experimental models of hypertension [1, 2]. Vascular disease is the main topic in three review papers of this collection. In the first review, methods to evaluate endothelial dysfunction were considered in experimental models of hypertension. It is important to recognize that a large range of knowledge of changes in microcirculation came from vascular studies using resistance arteries mounted in wire or pressurized myograph in different animal models of hypertension and more recently in clinical settings of hypertensive disease. In the second review, A. R. Cunha et al. describe the controversial role of magnesium in the pathogenesis and vascular complications of hypertension. In spite of heterogeneity of study populations, the authors suggest that magnesium is more involved in the functional vascular changes and also on local metabolic stability with no influence on the vascular structure. Accordingly, experimental and epidemiological studies reported a connection between intracellular concentrations of ions and development of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases [3, 4]. In the third review, V. Javaroni and M. Fritsch raise the question about the connection between erectile dysfunction and hypertension. Despite the high prevalence of sexual dysfunction among hypertensive men, unfortunately erectile dysfunction is usually not yet considered among subjects with increased blood pressure, neither in the initial nor …