A lack of oxygen to the developing fetus (prenatal hypoxia) is a common occurrence in complicated pregnancies.  Adult offspring from hypoxic pregnancies have cardiac abnormalities, such as impaired diastolic function, enhanced responsiveness to sympathetic stimulation and increased susceptibility to in vitro ischemia/reperfusion injury.  While this phenotype is often cited in the literature as being a precursor to disease, no study has directly tested whether offspring are more susceptible to cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension.  Establishing these relationships are important, because understanding comorbidities will help to predict, prevent and treat instances of heart disease.  Therefore, the first objective of this project is to test the hypothesis that adult offspring from hypoxic pregnancies are more susceptible to developing heart failure induced by chronic hypertension.  To address this hypothesis, we will study the effects of prenatal hypoxia on the hearts of adult rats chronically exposed to hypertensive stimuli.  In vivo heart function will be measured with echocardiography, and in vitro structure and cellular function will be investigated with histology and fluorescent microscopy, respectively.    Importantly, the study will investigate outcomes in both males and females, which addresses the urgent need for more gender-balanced cardiovascular research to improve cardiac health in women.