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Study
finds “Rotten Egg” Gas key to lowering Blood
Pressure
Newswise — An international research team,
with scientists from the University of
Saskatchewan, has discovered that a gas
produced in blood vessels regulates and
lowers blood pressure.
The team’s findings, based on research in
mice, may one day be used to design drug
therapies for controlling high blood
pressure in humans.
In a study published today in Science, the U
of S research team and colleagues from
Lakehead University and Johns Hopkins
University found that hydrogen sulfide
(H2S), commonly known as the gas with a
‘rotten egg’ smell, can regulate blood
pressure levels by relaxing blood vessels.
“This groundbreaking work is the result of
five years of intensive research that began
at the U of S,” says U of S pharmacologist
Dr. Lingyun (Lily) Wu, a corresponding
author on the paper.
Based on a study conducted in 2001 by former
U of S physiology professor Dr. Rui Wang,
the team of scientists suspected that H2S
could play a role in blood pressure
regulation. The U of S was the first to find
where H2S is produced in the cardiovascular
system.
Building on the foundation laid by this
preliminary research, Dr. Wu and her team
worked with Dr. Wang to genetically alter
lab mice by removing the enzyme responsible
for regulating H2S.
The scientists discovered that the altered
mice, which had lower than normal levels of
H2S, experienced 15 to 20 per cent increases
in blood pressure, similar to hypertension
in humans.
“Establishing at the U of S a mouse colony
that lacks a specific enzyme made this
discovery possible,” says Dr. Wu.
Though the study was conducted on mice, it
could prove to be an important finding for
human health.
“Now that we know hydrogen sulfide’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 treatment for
hypertension,” says Johns Hopkins
neuroscientist Dr. Solomon Snyder, a
corresponding author of the paper.
As a molecular messenger, or gasotransmitter,
H2S functions in a similar way to chemical
signals such as nitric oxide, dopamine, and
acetylcholine, which transmit signals
between nerve cells and stimulate or slow
down mind-brain activities.
"It's difficult to overestimate the
biological importance of hydrogen sulfide or
its implications in hypertension as well as
diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases,"
says Dr. Wang, now vice-president of
research at Lakehead University. "Most human
diseases probably have something to do with
gasotransmitters.”
To date, only two other gaseous molecules in
the body have been found to modulate
physiological functions. One is nitric
oxide, which was also found to relax blood
vessels, the discovery of which led to a
Nobel Prize.
This research project was supported by
grants from the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research and the U.S. Public Health
Service. Dr. Wu is also funded by the Heart
and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan. She
has published more than 80 peer-reviewed
papers on insulin resistance, hypertension
management, and gasotransmitter research.
Authors on the paper are Guangdong Yang,
Lingyun Wu, Bo Jiang, Wei Yang, Jiansong Qi,
Kun Cao, Qing Meng, all of the U of S; Rui
Wang and Shengming Zhang of Lakehead
University; and Asif K. Mustafa, Weitong Mu
and Solomon Snyder, all of Johns Hopkins
University.
The
University of Saskatchewan is one of the
leading medical doctoral universities in
Canada. With 58 degrees, diplomas and
certificates in over 100 areas of study, the
university is uniquely positioned in the
areas of human, animal and plant studies.
World-class research facilities, renowned
faculty and award-winning students make the
U of S a leader in post-secondary education.
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