ABSTRACT
The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays important roles in physiological control of cardiovascular systems and body uid homeostasis in adults, and also in the pathogenesis of various cardiovascular (e.g., hypertension, stroke, ischemic heart disease), metabolic (e.g., diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome), and renal (e.g., glomerulitis, renal brosis) diseases (Barker 2002; Bichu et al. 2009; Carey and Siragy 2003; Nilsson et al. 2005; Re 2004a; Seckl and Holmes 2007). Since the theory of adult diseases in fetal origins was introduced, the development of the RAS in normal and abnormal patterns before birth has attracted considerable attention. A variety of evidence has demonstrated that the prenatal RAS is important, as an endocrine and paracrine system, in the control of body uid homeostasis and neuroendocrine functions. This system is subject to a number of conditions or environmental insults during pregnancy and, through plasticity phenomena, could cause alterations either in physiological functions or morphological phenotypes related to blood pressure and body uid homeostasis.
