ACE and Hypertension: Components of the RAS, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme(ACE) and angiotensin II, are locally produced in cardiac tissues31 and are primary candidates forfactors promoting remodeling, mainly cardiac myocyte hypertrophy and increasedextracellular fibrosis, which lead to deterioration in cardiac function.32 Various experimental animal modelshave been developed to investigate the associations between fetal undernutrition andcardiovascular disease later in life,33,34 and a possibleinvolvement of systemic RAS in the development of hypertension has beenreported.35,36