Old and New Elements in the Page’s Mosaic Describing Pathogenesis of Hypertension

Abstract

Since 1949, when Irvine Page presented for the first time the mosaic theory of arterial hypertension, numerous new factors have been discovered such as angiotensin, natriuretic peptides, prostacyclin, nitric oxide, adrenomedullin, neuropeptide Y or endothelin. Moreover, recent years brought the important discoveries on the role of sympathtic nervous system, role of genes, arterial stiffness, sodium metabolism and inflammatory process.
This short overview summarizes the findings concerning the role of some of these factors in the pathogenesis of arterial hypertension.