Tomoda Fumihiro, Nitta Atsumi, Sugimori Hiroko, Koike Tsutomu, Kinugawa Koichiro
The Faculty of Health Science, Fukui Health Science University, Fukui, Japan.
The Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Int J Hypertens. 2022 Mar 1;2022:3003269. doi: 10.1155/2022/3003269. eCollection 2022.
Nerve growth factor (NGF) is the main neurotrophic factor that can control sympathetic nerve innervation and sympathetic neural activity in cardiovascular organs. Although NGF overproduction and its influences on the sympathetic nervous system have been shown in hypertensive animals, NGF status and its association with sympathetic nerve activity have not yet been explored in human hypertension. In the present study, therefore, plasma and urinary levels of NGF and those of catecholamines (i.e., indices for NGF status and sympathoadrenal activity, respectively) were compared between 83 untreated primary hypertensives without apparent cardiovascular damages and 81 healthy normotensive subjects. Plasma and urinary levels of NGF were significantly greater in the hypertensive group (311 ± 158 pg/mL and 72.7 ± 54.0 ng/g of Cr) than in the normotensive group (168 ± 188 pg/mL and 54.5 ± 38.8 ng/g of Cr) ( < 0.05 for each measurement), even if the baseline differences of age and gender between the groups were adjusted. Similarly, plasma and urinary levels of catecholamines were significantly higher in the hypertensive group than in the normotensive group except for plasma noradrenaline. In addition, despite no significant correlations between plasma levels of NGF and catecholamines in both groups, urinary NGF significantly correlated positively with both urinary noradrenaline and urinary adrenaline in the hypertensive group ( = 0.259, =0.018 and = 0.232, =0.035), but not in the normotensive group ( = 0.115, =0.307 and = -0.018, =0.871). On the contrary, plasma and urinary levels of NGF as well as those of catecholamines did not associate with any systemic hemodynamic indices such as blood pressure and pulse rate in either group. Thus, primary hypertension was characterized by the enhancements of both NGF status and sympathoadrenal activity and the positive relationship between them. Our data indicate that enhanced NGF status and subsequent NGF-induced sympathoadrenal overactivity could occur in primary hypertension.
神经生长因子（NGF）是一种主要的神经营养因子，可控制心血管器官的交感神经支配和交感神经活动。尽管在高血压动物中已显示NGF产生过多及其对交感神经系统的影响，但在人类高血压中，NGF状态及其与交感神经活动的关系尚未得到研究。因此，在本研究中，比较了83例无明显心血管损害的未经治疗的原发性高血压患者和81例健康血压正常者的血浆和尿液中NGF水平以及儿茶酚胺水平（分别为NGF状态和交感肾上腺活动的指标）。高血压组的血浆和尿液NGF水平（分别为311±158 pg/mL和72.7±54.0 ng/g肌酐）显著高于血压正常组（168±188 pg/mL和54.5±38.8 ng/g肌酐）（每次测量均P<0.05），即使对两组间年龄和性别的基线差异进行了校正。同样，除血浆去甲肾上腺素外，高血压组的血浆和尿液儿茶酚胺水平显著高于血压正常组。此外，尽管两组中血浆NGF水平与儿茶酚胺之间均无显著相关性，但在高血压组中，尿液NGF与尿液去甲肾上腺素和尿液肾上腺素均呈显著正相关（r=0.259，P=0.018；r=0.232，P=0.035），而在血压正常组中无相关性（r=0.115，P=0.307；r=-0.018，P=0.871）。相反，两组中血浆和尿液NGF水平以及儿茶酚胺水平均与任何全身血流动力学指标如血压和脉搏率无关。因此，原发性高血压的特征是NGF状态和交感肾上腺活动均增强，且二者呈正相关。我们的数据表明，原发性高血压可能发生NGF状态增强以及随后NGF诱导的交感肾上腺过度活动。
