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Monday, January 20, 2003Nephrons are the basic working units of the kidney. They are the places where all the trash left over from our metabolism gets filtered out and dispensed in our urine. In the process they also regulate our water and electrolyte balance. And they also have an effect on our blood pressure. There have been clues that something in the kidneys is critical to the development of high blood pressure. People with normal blood pressure who recieve kidney transplants from people with high blood pressure often develop high blood pressure after their transplants, for example. People with kidney damage and disease also often develop high blood pressure. But last week’s paper in the New England Journal documented the number of nephrons in people with and without high blood pressure who had died in auto accidents. The numbers were small - only ten in each group, but they were well-matched and controlled for other factors, and the difference in nephron numbers was striking in most of the cases. The people who had high blood pressure had 500,000 to 900,000 nephrons. Those with normal blood pressure had 900,000 to 1.9 million. So, what does this mean? Well, for one thing, it helps us understand why the old and cheap thiazide diuretics have proven so effective. Their site of action is at the nephrons. It also may help research chemists come up with other, better medications that reduce the stress on nephrons. It’s been a while since any new blood pressure medications have been developed with a different mechanism of action than the ones that already exist. Perhaps this research will open the door for more. posted by Sydney on 1/20/2003 06:45:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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