Association of 1936A > G inAKAP10(A-kinase anchoring protein 10) and blood pressure in Polish full-term newborns

Determinants of Blood Pressure in Neonates and Infants: Predictable Variability

The blood pressure (BP) of neonates, especially those born premature, changes rapidly over the first days and weeks of life. Neonatal BPs may be affected by maternal factors, perinatal factors or events, and intrinsic or extrinsic infant factors. Unfortunately, the effect of many maternal health and disease states has only been studied in small numbers or has shown conflicting results. Many events around the time of delivery have the potential to influence the neonatal BP, and while definitive studies are often lacking, some observational data support physiological expectations. The strongest determinants of neonatal BP are the infant factors of gestational age at birth, birth weight, and postmenstrual age. Understanding the expected pattern of BP changes, identifying the potential influencing factors, and accurately measuring the BP are all essential to determine whether there is a BP abnormality present but are also more complex in the neonatal population. This review describes the evidence for maternal conditions, perinatal events, and infant factors to affect neonatal BP. It also explains what is currently known about the changing BP patterns in neonates including those born preterm. In addition, by examining the physiological process of hemodynamic adaptation to the extrauterine environment and compensatory cardiovascular responses, we can gain insight into the expected and unexpected vascular responses, making the variability of neonatal BP seem a little more predictable.

Polymorphisms/Mutations in A-Kinase Anchoring Proteins (AKAPs): Role in the Cardiovascular System

A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) belong to a family of scaffolding proteins that bind to protein kinase A (PKA) by definition and a variety of crucial proteins, including kinases, phosphatases, and phosphodiesterases. By scaffolding these proteins together, AKAPs build a "signalosome" at specific subcellular locations and compartmentalize PKA signaling. Thus, AKAPs are important for signal transduction after upstream activation of receptors ensuring accuracy and precision of intracellular PKA-dependent signaling pathways. Since their discovery in the 1980s, AKAPs have been studied extensively in the heart and have been proven essential in mediating cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-PKA signaling. Although expression of AKAPs in the heart is very low, cardiac-specific knock-outs of several AKAPs have a noteworthy cardiac phenotype. Moreover, single nucleotide polymorphisms and genetic mutations in crucial cardiac proteins play a substantial role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Despite the significant role of AKAPs in the cardiovascular system, a limited amount of research has focused on the role of genetic polymorphisms and/or mutations in AKAPs in increasing the risk of CVDs. This review attempts to overview the available literature on the polymorphisms/mutations in AKAPs and their effects on human health with a special focus on CVDs.