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Brain Connection To Hypertension?

Posted by kdawson on from the under-pressure dept.

The possibility that one cause of high blood pressure lies within the brain, and not the heart or blood vessels, has been put forward by scientists at the University of Bristol, UK. A research group there found a novel role for a protein called JAM-1, located in the walls of blood vessels in the brain. JAM-1 traps white blood cells, which can then cause inflammation and may obstruct blood flow, resulting in poor oxygen supply to the brain. The article notes that the idea that hypertension is an inflammatory vascular disease of the brain is somewhat controversial.

5 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Summary is misleading by MollyB · · Score: 4, Informative
    The summary says the finding is "controversial" but this appears inaccurate.

    FTFA:

    Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, commented: "This exciting study is important because it suggests there are unexpected causes of high blood pressure related to blood supply to the brain. It therefore opens up the possibility of new ways to treat this common, but often poorly managed, condition."

    As there is still poor understanding about what changes occur in people when hypertension develops, the finding of JAM-1 is of great interest and opens up multiple new avenues for further research and potential treatment. How is this controversial?
    1. Re:Summary is misleading by Seumas · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know, but I'm sure we can find a creationist to tell us.

  2. Heliobacter P. was controversial... by geschild · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not too long ago a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori was a similarly 'radical' concept. We know how that ended up changing things with regard to the treatment of ulcers.

    What I'm interested in is if there's a link with migraines. Hypertension medication is quite often helpfull in preventing or modulating migraine attacks in severe sufferers. The underlying mechanisms of migraines are not fully known and what mechanisms are known, are poorly understood. There seems to be concensus that it involves a chemical inflamation proces of arteries in the skull, though and if this proposition holds, that might explain how these medications work for migraines, too.

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    1. Re:Heliobacter P. was controversial... by geschild · · Score: 4, Informative

      Fortunately (for me) I was referring to the part where the discovery of a bacterium as a cause, was a radical new insight that met loads of scepticism in the scientific an medical community. As it turns out, it did change a lot in the treatment of ulcers. The fact that treatment now is becoming more and more ineffective does nothing to diminish the discovery that a whole new mechanism is the main cause for Gastric Ulcers!

      The rest of your rant may or may not be accurate but nothing you say takes away from the fact that this research might mean a lot to the field. I want to see this new research carried forward until it is either proven or disproven and consequences are taken.

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  3. And even more evidence by jandersen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Further research has shown that if you remove a person's brain entirely, his blood pressure drops to zero!! This is clearly conclusive evidence that the main cause of blood pressure is the brain.