Does skin microcirculation represent a faithful mirror of uric acid alterations?

TL;DRAbstract

In the past few years, growing interest has been paid both in the clinical field and in the research area to the evidence that elevated uric acid plasma levels may be associated with an increased risk for incident hypertension, independently of traditional hypertension risk factors, metabolic syndrome, obesity, renal disease, as well as heart failure [1]. From a pathophysiological point of view, hyperuricaemia is able to trigger a microvascular damage, which includes both functional (endothelial dysfunction) and structural (smooth muscle cell proliferation and remodelling) alterations. Such vascular changes have been previously described at the level of coronary microcirculation [2,3], retinal arteriolar network [4], and, more recently, indirectly at kidney level [5]. This multiorgan uric acid-related microvascular damage has been proposed as a putative mechanism whereby hyperuricaemia leads to cardiovascular disease. However, at present, the paucity of randomized clinical trials and t

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper