Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have uncovered how certain cells can transform their function to help regulate blood pressure. These cells, including smooth muscle cells lining our arteries, can produce renin – a substance typically made by specialized kidney cells. This discovery sheds light on a crucial biological 'switch' that controls this cellular changeover.
University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have discovered how certain cells have the amazing ability to transform their function to help our bodies control our blood pressure .
"Discovering how the switch works will help us understand how our bodies control blood pressure," said researcher R. Ariel Gomez, MD, of UVA's Child Health Research Center."Knowing how vascular cells change their identity could help develop new medications to treat high blood pressure and vascular diseases."Gomez and his collaborator Maria Luisa S. Sequeira-Lopez, MD, are leading researchers into the role of renin in blood-pressure control.
"We expected to find the region in your genome where this gene is located to be inaccessible when renin is turned off, but it turns out this spot stays generally accessible in cells that are ready to be called into action when more renin is needed," Smith said.
Jason P. Smith, Robert Paxton, Silvia Medrano, Nathan C. Sheffield, Maria Luisa S. Sequeira-Lopez, R. Ariel Gomez.A study suggests that the response of immune system cells inside the protective covering surrounding the brain may contribute to the cognitive decline that can occur in a person with chronic high ...
Blood Pressure Renin Cells Medical Research University Of Virginia
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