A lot of salt can kidnap your mind

The research, led by the scientist of McGill University, Masha Pragher Khutorsky, in cooperation with a multidisciplinary team in McGill and the Research Institute at McGill Health Center, notes that the brain may be a missing link in certain forms of high blood pressure – or high blood pressure – traditionally attributed to the kidneys.

“This is a new evidence that high blood pressure can arise in the brain, and opens the door to develop treatments that work on the brain,” said Braft Khutsky, associate professor in the McGill Physiology Department.

High blood pressure affects two thirds of people over 60 years old and contributes 10 million deaths all over the world. Often without symptoms, the condition increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and other serious health problems.

About a third of patients do not respond to standard medications, which primarily target blood vessels and kidneys based on a long -term look that begins high blood pressure there. The study, published in the magazine Nerve cellsIt indicates that the brain may also be a major driver of the condition, especially in treatment -resistant cases.

How the salt is disrupted

To imitate the patterns of human eating, mice were given water that contains 2 percent salt, similar to a high daily diet in fast food and elements such as bacon, immediate pasta and treated cheese.

The high -salt diet stimulated the immune cells in a certain brain region, causing inflammation and an increase in the hormone of fasoprice, which raises blood pressure. The researchers tracked these changes using advanced brain imaging and laboratory techniques that have become only recently available.

“The role of the brain in high blood pressure has been overlooked, partly because it is difficult to study.” “But with new technologies, we can see these changes at work.”

Researchers used mice instead of mice that were commonly studied because mice regulate salt and water more like humans. This makes the results more likely to apply to people, as Prayer Khutsky pointed out.

Next, scientists plan to study whether similar operations are involved in other forms of high blood pressure.

“MicroGlia regulates nervous activity by reshaping the stellar cells” by Ning Gu et al. Nerve cells With the support of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Cardiac and Stroke Foundation in Canada and the Azereli Foundation.