Current Opinion for Hypertension in Renal Fibrosis

Arterial hypertension remains to be a serious problem with considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide in the present age. Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, myocardial infarction, renal failure, and heart failure. Hypertensive nephropathy is the second leading cause of death in chronic kidney disease (CKD) around the world. Long-time hypertension loading results in renal interstitial fibrosis, which is associated with aberrant activation of renal fibroblasts and excessive generation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Increasing evidence supported that proteinuria, tubular hypertrophy, oxidative stress, activation of renin-aldosterone-angiotensin system (RAAS), collagen turnover, chronic inflammation, and vasoactive substances synergistically contributed to the pathogenesis of hypertensive renal fibrosis. However, the mechanisms involving the pathogenesis of hypertensive renal fibrosis are complex and not fully understood. Also, the effective clinical therapy to halt or even reverse renal fibrosis in hypertension is still limited. In this chapter, we aimed to provide an overview of the main pathophysiologic and mechanistic features of renal fibrosis under hypertensive state. The completion of the studies in these directions would improve our understanding of renal fibrosis in hypertension and also help us better screen treatment strategies for preventing renal destruction associated with hypertension.