The important new discovery has shown that a small cell glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) protein is associated with the body’s control of blood sugar and blood pressure.
Professor Julian Paton, a senior author and Director of Manaaki Mnawa – Center for Cardiovascular Research at the University of Auckland, said: “We’ve known for a long time that hypertension and diabetes are linked. closely together and finally discovered the reason” will now inform new treatment strategies. ”
Study, published online ahead of print in Today’s Journal of Circulation Research [1 February], with contributions from collaborating scientists in Brazil, Germany, Lithuania and Serbia, as well as the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
GLP-1 is released from the intestinal wall after eating and stimulates insulin from the pancreas to control blood sugar. This was known but what has now been unearthed is that GLP-1 also stimulates a small sensory organ called the carotid organ located in the neck.
The University of Bristol team used an unbiased, high-throughput gene technique called RNA sequencing to read all the messages of the genes expressed in the carotid body in mice with and without High Blood Pressure. This led to the finding that the GLP-1-sensing receptor is located in the carotid body, but less so in hypertensive rats.
David Murphy, Professor of Experimental Medicine from Bristol Medical School: Translational Health Sciences (THS) and senior author, explains: “Location of linkage requires genetic profiling and multiple steps. We never expected to see GLP-1 on the radar, so this is very exciting and opens up new opportunities.”
Professor Paton added: “The carotid body is the point of convergence where GLP-1 acts to control both blood sugar and blood pressure simultaneously; this is coordinated by the guided nervous system. by the carotid body.”
People with hypertension and/or diabetes are at increased risk for life-threatening cardiovascular disease. Even if the drug is received, a large number of patients will still be at high risk for the disease. This is because most medications only treat the symptoms, not the cause, of high blood pressure and high sugar.
Professor Rod Jackson, a world-renowned epidemiologist from the University of Auckland, said: “We know that blood pressure is notoriously difficult to control in patients with high blood sugar, so these findings It’s really important because by providing GLP-1, we may be able to reduce both sugar and pressure together, and these two factors are major contributors to cardiovascular risk.”
Audrys Paua, a British Heart Foundation-funded doctoral candidate in the lab of Professor David Murphy at Bristol Medical School and lead author of the study, added: “Diabetes prevalence and hypertension is on the rise around the world, and there is an urgent need to tackle this problem.
“Drugs that target the GLP-1 receptor have been approved for use in humans and are widely used to treat diabetes.
“This study revealed that these drugs can actually act on carotid organs to produce antihypertensive effects. Leading from this study, we planned to do an epidural study. transfer in humans to put this discovery into practice so that the most at-risk patients can receive the best treatment available.”
But the GLP-1 is just the beginning. The study revealed many new targets for ongoing functional studies that the team predict will lead to future displacement projects in patients with hypertension and diabetes.
The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Source: Eurekalert
