ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the changes and significances of the level of serum Fibulin-3 and correlation between Fibulin-3 and branchial-ankle Pulse Wave Velocity (baPWV) in patients with hypertension. Methods A total of 50 patients with hypertension and 38 healthy people were enrolled finally, whose fasting blood were collected. The levels of Fibulin-3、MMP-9 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The baPWV was detected by pulse wave velocity automatic analyzer. Results The level of serum Fibulin-3 in hypertension was lower than the control group significantly (P < 0.001). There was no significance of serum MMP-9 in the two groups. The baPWV in hypertension was higher than the control group.Correlations between the level of Fibulin-3 and baPWV were significant (r = -0.324,P = 0.006). While correlations between the level of MMP-9 and baPWV had no significance (r=0.003,P=0.968). Conclusion The level of serum Fibulin-3 and baPWV can be used as index of functional changes in the early stage of hypertensive vascular remodeling, and may be applied for forecasting the organ damage in hypertension.