LEVELS OF APELIN IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY AND CHANGES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICATIONS

Actuality. Apelin has recently attracted much attention of researchers. On the basis of this fat hormone, aim of our work was to determine the apelin role in lipid metabolism, the progression of obesity, insulin resistance development, the formation of hypertension combined with obesity and track changes in its level under the antihypertensive therapy combination influence.

Materials and methods. We examined 60 patients with essential hypertension, which were divided into two experimental groups: hypertension and hypertension combined with obesity. Patients of both experimental groups were measured the apelin level with further study its relationship with the severity of the disease course in both groups. All patients received a combination of antagonist-II receptor olmesartan and amlodipine calcium. Treatment duration was 6 months. The study was conducted before prescribing antihypertensive therapy and after 6 months of treatment.

Our data suggest that the least apelin level was observed in patients with hypertension burdened with abdominal obesity.

Results. The paper shows that one of the mechanisms of apelin action is its effect on the NO synthesis, which inhibited effectiveness against hypertension and hypertension with obesity. Vasoprotective functions of NO, in addition to participation in vasoregulation, lie in the modulation of the release of vasoactive mediators, blocking LDL oxidation, inhibition of adhesion of monocytes and platelets in the vascular wall. In addition, NO inhibits the expression of proinflammatory genes in the vessel’s wall, in particular transcription factor NFkB.

Conclusions. Thus, it was proved that in hypertensive patients with abdominal obesity, which constitute a group at high cardiovascular risk, the appointment of a modern combination of antihypertensive drugs (olmesartan with amlodipine) leads not only to improvement of the metabolic rate, but also significantly improves the vasodilatory properties due to increased levels of apelin and NO.