Alberto F. Rubio-Guerra^{1, 2,}, Hilda Vargas-Robles³, German Vargas Ayala^{1, 2}, Leticia Rodriguez-Lopez^{1, 2}, Montserrat B. Duran-Salgado^{1, 2}, Bruno A. Escalante-Acosta⁴

Endothelial dysfunction is associated with vascular inflammation, reduced serum levels of nitric oxide, vasoconstriction and atherosclerosis.Soluble adhesion molecules (SAM) are considered markers of endothelial dysfunction and play a role in end organ damage in those patients. Prehypertensive patients suffer endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of circulating soluble adhesion molecules and nitric oxide (evaluated as serum levels of nitrites) in prehypertensive non-diabetic patients. METHODS: Circulating levels of VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and e-selectine (ELISA RyDSystems Minneapolis USA), and serum nitrite levels (Griess method, Molecular Probes Inc. Oregon USA) were measured in 20 prehypertensive non-diabetic patients (as defined by JNC 7) and in 20 age matched normotensive controls. Statistical analysis was performed with ANOVA. RESULTS: Prehypertensive patients showed significantly higher levels of SAM, (VCAM-1; 530 ± 30.9 vs. 477 ± 22.5 ng/ml p<0.001), (ICAM-1; 285 ± 16.5 vs. 239 ± 14.9 ng/ml p<0.001), (E- selectin; 68 ± 6.9 vs. 52 ± 9.8 ng/ml p<0.01) and lower levels of nitrites (4.5 ± 0.8μmol/L vs. 6.2 ± 1.2 μmol/L p<0.01) than controls. CONCLUSION: Prehypertensive patients showed higher circulating levels of SAM and lower nitrites than normotensive subjects; which may explain why prehypertensive patients had more complications and coronary risk than normotensive patients.

prehypertension, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, adhesion molecules