Both the volume of water and salt content of the body can affect blood pressure. The kidneys act to filter the blood and rid our bodies of excess salt or water and in doing so play a central role in the maintenance of normal blood pressure. In a study appearing online on May 11 in advance of print publication in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Jorge Capdevila and colleagues from Vanderbilt University show that a dysfunctional Cyp4a10 gene causes a type of high blood pressure in mice that is, like most high blood pressure in humans, sensitive to dietary salt intake.

They show that Cyp4a10-/- mice had normal blood pressure when fed a normal diet, yet developed high blood pressure when fed a high-salt diet. These mice had a dysfunctional sodium channel in kidney epithelial cells, which caused alterations in the passage of sodium in and out of kidney cells, thereby upsetting the ability of the kidneys to regulate sodium excretion and blood pressure. These results could lead to new strategies for the early diagnosis and clinical management of salt-sensitive high blood pressure.

LE: Salt-sensitive hypertension is associated with dysfunctional Cyp4a10 gene an kidney epithelial sodium channel

https://www.the-jci/article.php?id=27546

Brooke Grindlinger
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