Ascorbic Acid Protects against Hypertension through Downregulation of ACE1 Gene Expression Mediated by Histone Deacetylation in Prenatal Inflammation-Induced Offspring

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Prenatal exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leads to hypertension in a rat offspring. However, the mechanism is still unclear. This study unraveled epigenetic mechanism for this and explored the protective effects of ascorbic acid against hypertension on prenatal inflammation-induced offspring. Prenatal LPS exposure resulted in an increase of intrarenal oxidative stress and enhanced angiotensin-converting enzyme 1 (ACE1) gene expression at the mRNA and protein levels in 6- and 12-week-old offspring, correlating with the augmentation of histone H3 acetylation (H3AC) on the ACE1 promoter. However, the prenatal ascorbic acid treatment decreased the LPS-induced expression of ACE1, protected against intrarenal oxidative stress, and reversed the altered histone modification on the ACE1 promoter, showing the protective effect in offspring of prenatal LPS stimulation. Our study demonstrates that ascorbic acid is able to prevent hypertension in offspring from prenatal inflammation exposure. Thus, ascorbic acid can be a new approach towards the prevention of fetal programming hypertension.