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Review
. 2023 Jan 27;12(2):281.
doi: 10.3390/antiox12020281.

Oxidative Stress, Antioxidants and Hypertension

Michael Amponsah-Offeh  1   2 , Patrick Diaba-Nuhoho  3   4 , Stephan Speier  1   5   6 , Henning Morawietz  3
Affiliations
Review

Oxidative Stress, Antioxidants and Hypertension

Michael Amponsah-Offeh et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

As a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, hypertension remains a serious threat to global public health. Despite the availability of many antihypertensive medications, several hypertensive individuals are resistant to standard treatments, and are unable to control their blood pressure. Regulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) controlling blood pressure, activation of the immune system triggering inflammation and production of reactive oxygen species, leading to oxidative stress and redox-sensitive signaling, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Thus, besides standard antihypertensive medications, which lower arterial pressure, antioxidant medications were tested to improve antihypertensive treatment. We review and discuss the role of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of hypertension and the potential use of antioxidants in the management of hypertension and its associated organ damage.

Keywords: antihypertensive therapy; antioxidants; cardiovascular diseases; hypertension; oxidative stress; reactive oxygen species.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Impact of physiological and pathophysiological stimuli on the regulation of vascular and cardiac function and cardiovascular diseases. Physiological stimuli like exercise can induce redox-sensitive signal transduction and the regulation of vascular and cardiac function. Redox-sensitive signal transduction, gene and protein expression and the regulation of vascular and cardiac function are also present in patients with cardiovascular diseases, despite being altered. Clinical risk factors and the metabolic syndrome can increase levels of vasoactive substances like angiotensin II, oxidative stress, cell and tissue damage, as well as in long-term cardiovascular diseases. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Physiological redox balance and oxidative stress. Under physiological conditions, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the antioxidative capacity are in a balance. An increased production of ROS, e.g., by NADPH oxidase (NOX) isoforms 1, 2 and 5, which is not compensated by antioxidative defense mechanisms like the different superoxide dismutase (SOD) isoforms, can lead to oxidative stress. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 3
Figure 3
ROS formation and hypertension. Activation of NADPH oxidases (NOX) and other sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) promotes oxidative stress, and leads to organ damage, vascular dysfunction and hypertension. Parts of figure are adapted from SMART—Servier Medical Art, Servier: https://smart.servier.com. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (accessed on 22 September 2022).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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