U of S makes new finding in blood pressure control

TheStarPhoenix.com
Published: Friday, October 24, 2008

SASKATOON - New research by a team including University of Saskatchewan scientists has bolstered a previous finding about the role of hydrogen sulphide gas in regulating blood pressure.

Hydrogen sulphide, notorious for its rotten egg smell, is toxic in large doses. But back in 2001, U of S researchers found muscle cells in the walls of blood vessels produce the gas for the purpose of relaxing vessel walls and ultimately, reducing blood pressure.

Now, a team from the U of S, Johns Hopkins University, and a former U of S professor now working at Lakehead University, have created a genetically altered mouse that gives further evidence of the link between the gas and blood pressure control.

The mice are missing the enzyme responsible for regulating hydrogen sulphide gas. Researchers found their blood pressure was 15 to 20 per cent higher than normal mice.

The development is published in today's edition of the prestigious research journal Science.

Although the relationship has not yet been proven in humans, the findings could open up a new way to use medications to control blood pressure.

"Now that we know hydrogen sulphide's role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treating hypertension," said Dr. Solomon Snyder, one of the paper's senior authors and a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins, in a university press release.

Only two other gases are currently known to affect physiological functions in the body - carbon dioxide and nitric oxide.

Right now, drugs called diuretics (water pills), beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers are the most common medications used to help control blood pressure, in addition to lifestyle changes like improved diet and exercise.