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Article: Brain graft causes hypertension in rats. (front portion of hypothalamus linked to high-blood pressure) (Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- August 13, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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About 90 percent of the time, physicians do not really know why a patient develops high blood pressure, a problem that affects some 63 million people in the United States. Diet, exercise, and emotions play a role (SN: 10/16/93, p.246; 12/4/93, p.380), as does genetics. But researchers now think they may have come closer to identifying the real reason behind primary hypertension.
By transplanting brain tissue from specially bred rats into normal rats, neurobiologists have homed in on a brain region that can cause hypertension.
The transplant procedure also provides researchers with a new way to study the selective loss of nerve cells, says Raya Eilam, a ...