Washington: The kidneys play a vital role in maintaining blood pressure, says a new study.
The organ is made up of roughly a million basic working units called nephrons, which remove waste products from the blood, recycle some substances and eliminate what is left as urine.
The end segment of nephrons, called the distal nephron, helps set blood pressure by controlling the amount of sodium in our blood, according to scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Centre, reports the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
They demonstrated that sodium handling by the distal nephron is under the control of a local regulatory system, according to a Texas statement.
Loss of this system leads to hypertension (high blood pressure) resulting from improper salt retention by the kidneys, the scientists found in mouse studies.
"These studies provide the first unequivocal evidence of a blood pressure control system in the distal nephron of the kidney," said senior study author James Stockand, professor of physiology at the Texas Health Science Center.
Many medications that treat high blood pressure target salt handling in the kidney. "Our work identifies a possible new therapeutic target," Stockand said.
Comments
0 comment