By Otto Rodriguez
Miami-Dade Health
A recent discovery by British researchers that a gas called nitric oxide that regulates blood pressure is formed in nerves rather than in the walls of blood vessels could lead to the creation of a single pill to combat the disease.
High blood pressure – also called hypertension – is a dangerous condition which, if left untreated, can lead to stroke, kidney problems and/or heart attack.
High blood pressure can put extra strain on blood vessels, the heart, and other organs and can increase the risk of life-threatening conditions including heart disease.
According to the researchers, the recent discovery fundamentally changes the way doctors have viewed the regulation of blood pressure. Until now the majority of blood pressure drugs have focussed on other pathways.
“Establishing that nerves releasing nitric oxide influence blood pressure, provides a new target for drugs and could eventually lead to more effective treatments for patients,” said Ajay Shah, Chair of Cardiology at King’s College Hospital, in England and a key player in the medical study.
For millions of patients, this new kind of treatment could mean the end of a daily cocktail of tablets taken in combination to regulate blood flow.
Nitric oxide only came to prominence over two decades ago when a group of American pharmacologists discovered its properties as a ‘signaling system’ in the cardiovascular system. Their discovery earned them the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1998.
Other research has proved the important role the gas plays in such fundamental biological processes such as regulation of blood pressure, the immune system, and different functions of the nervous system.
