New Effective Treatment for High Blood Pressure? Removing tiny organ

Becky Nitschelm

Author: University of Bristol
Published: Sep 3 2013
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130903113300.htm

Summary: 
New research has been discovered that removing a small organ on the carotid arteries could decrease hypertension, or high blood pressure. When there is a decreased amount of oxygen in the blood, the brain responds by sending a signal to the heart to beat faster and breath faster, increasing the blood pressure and breathing rate. This gets the oxygen levels back to normal. The small organ, known as the carotid body, sends the nervous signal to the brain that the oxygen levels are low. Keeping the blood pressure at a normal rate is important to supply the brain with enough blood. However, researchers have discovered that removing the carotid body rapidly decreases blood pressure and keeps it at the constant low rate. A human test is going on now to see the results between different patients on a larger scale at the University of Bristol.

Connection

In our study of the human body, we learned about the circulatory system and the many problems that can occur that result in a loss of homeostasis. One of those problems that we studied was hypertension. Therefore this article relates to what we have studied because it talks about a way to resolve this problem and bring the circulatory back to its homeostatic balance. In addition, we learned about reactions to the oxygen level in blood being too low. This article talks about an increased breathing rate, which we talked about in class, caused by a signal sent by the nervous system. We also studied the nervous system in class and how these signals are sent to the brain.