A recent study suggests that a medication developed to treat migraines could pose serious risks to people with chronic high blood pressure.
The drug in question works by blocking a neuropeptide known as αCGRP (α calcitonin gene-related peptide), which is released by the muscles during physical activity and plays a protective role for the heart.
In the body, αCGRP operates in two distinct ways. At the site where it is released from nerve cells, such as in the meninges, it causes inflammation and dilates blood vessels, which can lead to migraine attacks.
However, the peptide has a wholly different, and beneficial, effect on the heart.
Research conducted on mice showed that αCGRP released from active skeletal muscles is carried by the blood to the heart, where it prevents the unhealthy remodeling of the heart that can occur as a result of chronic high blood pressure.
Study leader Johannes Vogel, professor at the University of Zurich’s Institute of Veterinary Physiology, suggests that the same is true for humans: “Physical activity and sport increase the blood plasma levels of αCGRP, which has a positive effect on the heart in patients with high blood pressure.”
The study, which compared sedentary mice to those with chronic high blood pressure that ran voluntarily in a running wheel, revealed that having normal concentrations of αCGRP in the blood plasma is crucial for the heart-protective effects of physical activity.
The peptide also confers additional protection on the heart, irrespective of its blood pressure-lowering properties at high doses.
Vogel points out that these findings could have implications for the future treatment of hypertension: “In the future, substances that activate the release of αCGRP or mimic its action could be used in hypertensive patients who can only be physically active to a very limited extent or in whom antihypertensive medications have little or no effect.”
The study also revealed a potential danger with the long-term use of αCGRP blockers in mice with chronic high blood pressure.
These blockers led to a life-threatening cardiac dysfunction. As such medications have recently been approved for preventing migraines and are designed to specifically block the neuropeptide, this finding warrants attention.
Because the structure of the αCGRP peptide is very similar across species, from zebrafish to humans, it likely plays a key role in a biological mechanism that operates similarly across organisms.
As such, Vogel advises caution: “αCGRP blockers should only be used for migraine prevention with the proviso that patients’ blood pressure is monitored regularly.
Chronic high blood pressure should be added to the list of contraindications for the long-term use of αCGRP blockers.”
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies that black licorice could cause dangerously high blood pressure, and this common plant nutrient could help reduce high blood pressure.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about how coffee influences your risk of high blood pressure, and results showing this olive oil could reduce blood pressure in healthy people.
The study was published in Circulation Research.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
