A brain region that controls breathing possibly responsible for high BP:...

Key Highlights

• “The lateral parafacial region is recruited into action, causing us to exhale during a laugh, exercise or coughing,” Paton said.
• In rats induced with hypertension, the study published in the journal Circulation Research found that the pFL region also connects to nerves that tighten blood vessels, a mechanism that raises blood pressure.
• “Researchers discovered that, in conditions of high blood pressure, the lateral parafacial region is activated and, when our team inactivated this region, blood pressure fell to normal levels,” Paton said.
• Changes in breathing patterns, especially those involving strong abdominal muscle contractions, can therefore trigger high blood pressure in patients, the researchers said.
• “The heightened sympathetic activity inducing hypertension triggered by chronic intermittent hypoxia is caused, in the most part, by the emergence of pFL expiratory oscillations driving rostral ventrolateral medulla and A5 sympathetic vasomotor neurons (both in the brainstem) and active expiration simultaneously,” the authors wrote.