A recent discovery was made by researchers in the UK and New Zealand linking high blood pressure and diabetes.
The discovery involved a small protein cell glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that affects the body’s control of blood sugar and blood pressure. The study appeared in Circulation Research.
Although it is already known that GLP-1 is released in the gut upon consuming foot and stimulates insulin to control blood sugar levels, the new findings revealed more than that.
Researchers found that the GLP-1 stimulates the carotid body in the neck, and the carotid body is the center in which GLP-1 controls both blood sugar and blood pressure altogether.
“Using a hypothesis-free RNA-seq approach, we investigated potential molecular targets implicated in energy metabolism mediating carotid body sensitization and its regulation of sympathetic outflow in experimental hypertension,” according to researchers.
“We show GLP1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) to modulate the peripheral chemoreflex acting on the CB, supporting this organ as a multimodal receptor.”
“Our findings pinpoint CBs as potential targets for ameliorating excessive sympathetic activity using GLP1R agonists in the hypertensive-diabetic condition.”
