Physiological role of hypothalamic aldosterone synthase in high-salt diet-induced hypertension

Research Project

Project/Area Number	16K15119
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Biological pharmacy
Research Institution	Kyoto University
Principal Investigator	Yamaguchi Yoshiaki 京都大学, 薬学研究科, 助教 (30467427)
Research Collaborator	TAKAHASHI Hakuo 関西医科大学, 名誉教授 OKAMURA Hitoshi 京都大学, 大学院薬学研究科, 教授 KUROIWA Sayaka 京都大学, 薬学部, 学部生
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000)
Keywords	高血圧 / 視床下部 / アルドステロン / 血圧 / Cyp11b2 / RAAS / 副腎 / cyp11b2
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Hypertension is a causative factor for ischemic heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Thus, its remedy is clinically important. It is widely recognized that a negative feedback mechanism of the renin - angiotensin - aldosterone system (RAAS) in the peripheral organs controls a blood pressure level; when blood pressure reaches a high level, renin secretion from the kidney is inhibited and blood pressure will be lowered. In this study, however, I found that expression of aldosterone synthase is elevated in the brain of mice fed with high salt diet. This increase is a sharp contrast with that in periphery. From this result, it is suggested that RAAS forms a positive feedback mechanism in the brain, and normalizing the activity level of RAAS in the brain is effective for treating hypertension.