PNMT and hypertensive disorder: Mental stress induces phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase, which may act as a DNA methylase, causing the NET gene silencing, which in turn, may exaggerate autonomic responsiveness [106]: this epigenetic modification has been hypothesized to underlie both essential hypertension and panic disorder, conditions frequently associated to each other [107]; moreover, cortisol responses to mental stress are greater and more persistent in people at high risk for hypertension relative to low-risk normotensives [108, 109].