Hypertension can start impairing major brain cells responsible for cognition well before blood pressure increases by a measurable amount, according to a study conducted on mice, which can help explain how the condition is a major risk factor for cognitive impairment. Findings published in the journal Neuron suggest that hypertension may induce early changes in how genes in a brain cell express themselves and could interfere with one’s thinking and memory, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College said.
The study can provide clues for finding ways through which neurodegeneration — seen in disorders such as Alzheimer’s — could be blocked, they said.
Having high blood pressure has been shown to heighten one’s risk of cognitive impairment, usually seen to precede Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, which are marked by affected decision-making and loss of memory.
However, the reasons behind how hypertension can impact cognition are not understood, the researchers said. While hypertension medications succeed in lowering blood pressure, brain function shows little or no effects, suggesting that changes to blood vessels could cause damage independently of the elevated pressure associated with hypertension, they added.
“We found that the major cells responsible for cognitive impairment were affected just three days after inducing hypertension in mice, before blood pressure increased,” said senior author and lead researcher Dr Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and professor of neuroscience and neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
“The bottom line is something beyond the dysregulation of blood pressure is involved,” Iadecola said.
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