|| Researchers Present New Principle For Nitric Oxide-Mediated Signalling in Blood Vessels ||

|| Sunday: September 24: 2023 || ά. Although, a simple molecule, nitric oxide is an important signal substance, that helps to reduce blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels. But how it goes about doing this has long been unclear. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now present an entirely novel principle, that challenges the Nobel Prize-winning hypothesis that the substance signals in its gaseous form. The research have been published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

That the simple molecule nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide:NO serves as a signal substance in many important physiological processes has been known for some time. For example, the discovery of the compound’s significance was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. One of its functions is to initiate a signalling cascade, that causes the smooth muscles of the vasculature to relax, thus, expanding the vessels and lowering blood pressure. This is, also, why nitroglycerin, which releases NO, has long been a common treatment for angina. :::ω:::

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|| Arterial Stiffness May Cause and Worsen Heart Damage Among Adolescents By Increasing Blood Pressure and Insulin Resistance ||

|| Thursday: August 31: 2023 || ά. Arterial stiffness is a novel cause of premature heart damage among adolescents, according to a new follow-up study. The study was conducted in collaboration between Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine in the US, the University of Bristol, the University of Exeter in the UK and the University of Eastern Finland and the results were published in Atherosclerosis.

Left ventricular hypertrophy and left diastolic dysfunction are measures of structural and functional heart damage, which have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular-related death in adults. These cardiac measures are, also, used in the paediatric population as indicators of premature heart damage. Arterial stiffness estimated from carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity has been discovered as a novel cause of increased blood pressure, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in adolescents and young adults.

It was, also, recently shown that increased blood pressure in adolescence may cause premature heart damage but, it is not known whether arterial stiffness could independently cause structural and functional damage to the heart.

The current study was conducted among 1,856 adolescents of whom 1,011 were female. The adolescents were 17 years old at baselin, and they were followed up for 07 years until young adulthood at age 24 years. Arterial stiffness, carotid intima-media thickness and evidence of heart damage were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Signs of heart structure damage are left ventricular hypertrophy and high relative wall thickness, whereas signs of heart function damage are left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and increased left ventricular filling pressure.

During the 07-year follow-up period, the prevalence of heart structural damage among adolescents doubled. With extensive control for fat mass, muscle mass, glucose, insulin, blood pressure, lipids, smoking status, sedentary time, physical activity, socio-economic status and family history of cardiovascular disease and using adults’ cut points for diagnosing heart damage, it was observed that adolescents in the highest tertile category of arterial stiffness and carotid intima-media thickness had a 23–27% increased risk of progressively worsening structural heart damage.

Only arterial stiffness appears to independently cause both structural and functional heart damage, whereas increased carotid wall thickness does not seem to have a causal role. Increased carotid wall thickness is an early indicator of atherosclerosis, whereas increased arterial stiffness describes arteriosclerosis. The study further reported that arterial stiffness caused heart damage by increasing blood pressure and insulin resistance. The increase in blood pressure explained 34% of the heart damage, caused by arterial stiffness. Moreover, insulin resistance explained 15% of the heart damage, caused by arterial stiffness.

“We are seeing, for the first time, that arterial stiffness is a novel cause of several diseases, such as, hypertension, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and heart damage in the young population. Among adults, arterial stiffness is currently being established as a cause of Type Two Diabetes. We discovered that approximately 50% of the deleterious role of arterial stiffness in causing heart damage is enhanced by the mechanism of increased blood pressure and insulin resistance. Thus, preventing and lowering blood pressure and insulin resistance, may, potentially, diminish the negative impact of arterial stiffness on the heart, by up to half.” says Andrew Agbaje, a physician and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Eastern Finland.

“Experimental and clinical intervention studies are urgently needed on comprehensive approaches to treating and reversing arterial stiffness from adolescence. At least, targeting blood pressure and insulin resistance leaves the problem half-solved.” Agbaje continues.

Arterial stiffness may cause premature cardiac damage in youth but, decreasing blood pressure and insulin resistance may reduce this effect by fifty percent.

Publication: Agbaje AO, Zachariah JP, Tuomainen TP. Arterial Stiffness but not Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Progression Precede Premature Structural and Functional Cardiac Damage in Youth: A 7-Year Temporal and Mediation Longitudinal Study. Atherosclerosis August 03, 2023 :::ω:::

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