Sweet pressure – scientists discover link between high blood pressure and diabetes

Press release issued: 1 February 2022

The long-standing enigma of why so many patients suffering with high blood pressure (known as hypertension) also have diabetes (high blood sugar) has finally been cracked by an international team led by the universities of Bristol, UK, and Auckland, New Zealand.

The important new discovery has shown that a small protein cell glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) couples the body’s control of blood sugar and blood pressure.

LP-1 is released from the wall of the gut after eating and acts to stimulate insulin from the pancreas to control blood sugar levels. This was known but what has now been unearthed is that GLP-1 also stimulates a small sensory organ called the carotid body located in the neck.

Read the full University of Bristol press release

Paper: 'GLP1R attenuates sympathetic response to high glucose via carotid body inhibition' by Audrys G. Pauza, Julian F.R. Paton, David Murphy et al. in Circulation Research [open access]