Identifying genetic determinants in human essential hypertension.

Genetic factors play an important role in the pathophysiology of human essential hypertension. The remarkable success of molecular genetic techniques in identifying the basis for single gene disorders at the DNA level has encouraged investigators to apply similar techniques in an attempt to identify blood pressure genes. In contrast to single gene disorders, however, the study of blood pressure is complicated by its quantitative, complex, heterogeneous, and polygenic nature. This article examines current methods and strategies for identifying genetic determinants in human hypertension. The availability of highly polymorphic markers, the advances in quantitative trait analysis, and the mapping of blood pressure-determining genes in a polygenic rat model of hypertension suggest that molecular genetic research in human hypertension has come of age.