In the mind: the brain and blood pressure control

Brainstem hypoperfusion as a causative mechanism for neurogenic hypertension (renewal)

Millions of people in the UK are diagnosed with high blood pressure (hypertension) which significantly increases a person’s risk of developing heart disease. Medicines are available to treat it but can be ineffective in up to half of patients and can cause serious side effects. Professor Julian Paton at the University of Bristol has spent the past ten years investigating the role of the nervous system in the control of blood pressure. He has discovered that the interactions of nerves with small vessels in the brain itself seem to be essential in effective blood pressure control. Looking in rats, his team has shown that blood pressure is increased when the brain detects that blood is not passing properly through the brain. The brain appears to raise blood pressure to try to push more blood through, but over time the high pressure can cause vessels in the brain to constrict, causing a stroke, and increasing the risk of developing disease in blood vessels throughout the body. Professor Paton’s team will now move closer towards new treatments which could harness the power of nerves in the brain to control blood pressure. The first step will be for the researchers to prove – in rats, before moving on to human studies – that when blood is struggling to move through the brain as it should, blood pressure goes up throughout the whole body. This would open the door to a whole new way of lowering blood pressure by using drugs to improve blood flow through the brain.