Scientists have discovered that a protein found in the walls of blood vessels plays a key role in maintaining healthy blood pressure.

The study shows that malfunction of the protein, a potassium channel called Kv7.4, contributes to the maintenance of high blood pressure, and the discovery could one day lead to new treatments for people with high blood pressure.

Dr Iain Greenwood from St George`s, University of London, who led the study, showed that Kv7.4 plays an essential role in maintaining the extent to which arteries are constricted or dilated.

The researchers examined rodents that had high blood pressure and discovered that in some cases the Kv7.4 channels weren`t working properly.

These channels allow the passage of potassium out of the muscle cells in our blood vessels and they have to be open and closed at the right times so that the muscles can contract or relax when we need them to.

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In the animals that had high blood pressure and malfunctioning Kv7.4 channels, the problem was that the channels were blocked. This caused an imbalance in the finely controlled chemical environment of the muscle cell.

`The problem is, if the Kv7.4 channels cannot function, the muscle cells overreact to the signals the body is giving to increase blood pressure,` he said.

`We think that in the animals we studied the redundant Kv7.4 channels contributed markedly to their high blood pressure,` he revealed.

Whilst it is extremely unlikely that most people with high blood pressure have defective Kv7.4 channels, the researchers hope that by understanding the key role they play in maintaining healthy blood pressure we can use this knowledge to develop new strategies for adjusting blood pressure using drug treatments in the future.

The study has been published July 11 in the journal Circulation.

Source: ANI
Image: Flickr/creativecommons comedynose