Vascular Effects of High-Salt After Preeclampsia

NCT06749418 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: EARLY_PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 40

Last updated 2026-02-13

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Women who develop preeclampsia during pregnancy are more likely to develop and die of cardiovascular disease later in life, even if they are otherwise healthy. Importantly, women who had preeclampsia have an exaggerated vascular responsiveness to hypertensive stimuli, such as high-salt intake, compared to women who had a healthy pregnancy. The reason why this occurs is unclear but may be related to impaired endothelial function and dysregulation of the angiotensin system that occurs during the preeclamptic pregnancy and persists postpartum, despite the remission of clinical symptoms. While the association between a history of preeclampsia and vascular dysfunction leading to elevated CVD risk is well known, the mechanisms underlying this dysfunction remains unclear.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of vascular mineralocorticoid receptor, the terminal receptor in the angiotensin system that contributes to blood pressure regulation, in mediating exaggerated microvascular endothelial dysfunction before and after a high-salt stimulus. This will help us better understand the mechanisms of microvascular dysfunction these women, and how inhibition of these receptors may improve microvascular function.

In this study, we use the blood vessels in the skin as a representative vascular bed for examining mechanisms of microvascular dysfunction in humans. Using a minimally invasive technique (intradermal microdialysis for the local delivery of pharmaceutical agents) we examine the blood vessels in a nickel-sized area of the skin.

Conditions

Interventions

DRUG

Eplerenone

Local heating: eplerenone is locally and acutely delivered to the cutaneous microvasculature during local heating of the skin to assess endothelium-dependent dilation, L-NAME is added to assess nitric oxide-dependent dilation during this response.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Anna Stanhewicz, PhD

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Anna Reid-Stanhewicz, PhD · University of Iowa

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
45 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-01-02
Primary Completion
2027-01-15
Completion
2027-11-15
FDA Drug
Yes

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06749418 on ClinicalTrials.gov