Blood Pressure Regulator Gene Identified

Researchers working with genetically engineered mice have found that a protein known as RGS2 (regulator of G protein signaling 2) plays a key role in blood pressure regulation. This finding was published in the February 2003 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Investigators from the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA) compared normal mice to mice lacking both copies of the rgs2 gene, which codes for RGS2 production, and to mice lacking only one copy of the gene.

They found that both strains of RGS2-deficient mice were highly hypertensive. While normal mice had a mean arterial blood pressure of 84 mm Hg, mice lacking both rgs2 genes had a blood pressure of 135 mm Hg and those missing one gene had a blood pressure of 134 mm Hg. Blocking the activity of angiotensin II, a hormone that causes arterioles to constrict and increase blood pressure, reversed hypertension in the RGS2-deficient mice.

"These findings provide new insights into the cause of hypertension and how normal blood pressure is regulated,” explained senior author Dr. Kendall J. Blumer, professor of cell biology and physiology at Washington University. "This may lead to a way of determining the underlying cause of a person's hypertension and the most effective treatment for that individual.”



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