Does the Oral Microbiome Play a Role in Hypertensive Pregnancies?

ABSTRACT: Chronic hypertension during gestation is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes including pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction and preterm birth. Research into new chemotherapeutic regimes for the treatment of hypertension in pregnancy is limited due to concerns about fetal toxicity and teratogenicity, and new therapeutic avenues are being sought in alternative physiological pathways. Historically, generation of the vasodilator nitric oxide was believed to be solely from L-arginine by means of nitric oxide synthase enzymes. Recently, a novel pathway for the reduction of dietary inorganic nitrate to nitrite by the bacteria in the oral cavity and subsequently to vasodilatory nitric oxide within the body has been uncovered. Dietary nitrate is abundant in gre

SUBMITTER: Willmott T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7406642 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature