High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a serious health problem that affects more than 116 million adults in the United States.
It makes the heart work harder and increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, which are two of the leading causes of death. In 2020 alone, high blood pressure played a role in over 670,000 deaths in the U.S.
Doctors usually treat high blood pressure with lifestyle changes and medications. One common type of medicine is called a calcium channel blocker. These drugs work by reducing how much calcium enters certain muscle cells in our blood vessels.
Calcium helps these muscles tighten. When there is less calcium, the muscles relax, blood vessels open up, and blood flows more easily—so blood pressure goes down.
But calcium is used for many things in the body, including building strong bones, helping muscles move, and sending signals through nerves. Because of this, medicines that block calcium everywhere can cause side effects like tiredness, dizziness, or muscle problems.
Now, researchers at the University of Virginia have made a discovery that could change the way we treat high blood pressure. They looked inside the smooth muscle cells that line our blood vessels and found something very small but very important—two tiny control centers inside each cell, called nanodomains.
These nanodomains are like little switches. One type tells the blood vessels to tighten, which raises blood pressure. The other type tells them to relax, which lowers it. In healthy people, these two types of nanodomains keep each other balanced.
But in people with high blood pressure, the switches that tighten the vessels become too active, and the ones that relax the vessels become too weak. This causes the vessels to stay tight and keeps blood pressure high.
This is a big discovery because it shows that the problem isn’t just too much calcium in general—it’s about how and where calcium is used in these tiny switches.
This means that, in the future, doctors may be able to create medicines that target only the overactive nanodomains instead of blocking calcium throughout the whole body. That could help lower blood pressure without causing as many side effects.
The research is still in its early stages, but it gives scientists a new way to think about treating high blood pressure. Instead of only trying to manage the symptoms, future treatments might fix the problem at its source—inside the tiny switches of our blood vessels.
For millions of people who struggle with high blood pressure, this brings new hope. Better treatments could help prevent heart attacks, strokes, and other serious problems, helping people live longer and feel better.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about high blood pressure treatment: ARBs vs. ACE inhibitors and blood pressure response to exercise can predict future heart disease.
For more about blood pressure, please read studies about This daily food is very important for blood pressure and heart health and Common blood pressure medication may have harmful side effects.
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