The sympathetic nervous system represents an important regulator of blood pressure through alterations in vascular responsiveness, renin release, renal sodium handling, and cardiac output [141]. Accordingly, genetic variation in the β2 adrenoceptors might be important for increasing total peripheral resistance and hence blood pressure. Evidence from cultured skin fibroblasts indicates that the expression of the β2 receptors in normotensive white Europeans with sodium-responsive blood pressure is less than half of that observed in salt-resistant subjects [109, 142].
This observation provides a potential link between sodium sensitivity and the sympathetic nervous system. The greater prevalence of hypertension and end-organ damage, such as stroke and renal disease, in populations of West African ancestry has prompted speculation that there may be ethnic differences in the genetic basis of high blood pressure [143]. This hypothesis is supported by observations in people of African origin that the blood pressure response to sodium loading or mental and physical stress is enhanced [144, 145].
In this study, we tested wether there is association between the Arg16→ Gly and the Gln27→ Glu variant of the β2 adrenoceptor and essential hypertension in African Caribbeans from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
For this study, a fast method for detecting the two mutations in the β2-adrenoceptor was established.
© 2001 Alexander Binder