Figure 4. Effect of maternal systemic endothelial dysfunction during pregnancy on offspring BP.

Experiments in eNOS-knockout mice have demonstrated the importance of the development in an environment of maternal systemic endothelial dysfunction. eNOS-knockout heterozygotes born to knockout mothers have shown some evidence of increased BP and BP variability compared with heterozygotes gestated in an environment with normal endothelial function. Second-generation offspring also show alterations in BP. Maternal systemic endothelial dysfunction during pregnancy is characteristic of the human syndrome of pre-eclampsia and these models highlight the potential importance of this in utero insult on later offspring vascular function [82].