It is possible to treat it. Scientists identify a new cause for high blood pressure

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Specialized scientists have discovered a new cause that leads to high blood pressure, which makes them better able to come up with effective treatments for this condition that leads to clots and strokes.

A new study revealed evidence indicating that a specific area in the brain may contribute to some cases of high blood pressure, while scientists were immediately able to come up with a potential way to reverse this condition.

A report published by the specialized scientific website “Science Alert”, and viewed by “Al Arabiya.net”, said that according to the study conducted in 2025 by a team that includes researchers from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the “lateral area adjacent to the face (pFL) in the brain can stimulate biological changes that lead to raising blood pressure.

The pFL area is linked to the control of breathing, specifically with forceful and deliberate exhalations that occur during exercise or when coughing or laughing. Scientists said that in tests conducted on rats, researchers found that this area is also capable of doing something else: constricting blood vessels.

Researchers say that this combination of controlling breathing and sending signals to blood vessels may be the driver of high blood pressure in some cases, and this may explain why many people (about 40% according to some estimates) suffer from uncontrolled blood pressure, despite taking antihypertensive medications.

The study indicates that neurons in the pFL area may link changes in breathing rhythms, which may not necessarily be noticeable, with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the “fight or flight” response) that helps control blood pressure, which is consistent with previous research that has linked high blood pressure to the brain and nervous system.

“Given that approximately 50% of patients with high blood pressure have a neurogenic etiology, the challenge lies in understanding the mechanisms that generate the state of ‘sympathetic excitability’ associated with high blood pressure,” the researchers wrote in their published scientific paper. “This discovery would provide much-needed clinical guidance for the development of new therapeutic strategies,” they added.

In their experiments on rats, the researchers used genetic engineering techniques to activate or deactivate neurons in the pFL area, and then monitored the results, monitoring neural activity related to breathing, sympathetic nervous system activity, and blood pressure levels.

The researchers activated pFL neurons in some rats, and found that this led to stimulation of other brain circuits that ultimately caused the animals' blood pressure to rise. They were then able to draw a detailed map of the activity of the brainstem and nerves, including other neurons that the pFL communicates with, and compare this with readings taken from a control group of rats that did not suffer from high blood pressure.

It has been shown that in rats with high blood pressure, the function of pFL neurons was not only limited to assisting in breathing, but also contributed to constricting blood vessels. These results also revealed a new potential therapeutic pathway.

"We discovered that in cases of high blood pressure, the lateral parafacial region is activated," says physiologist Julian Paton, from the University of Auckland. "When our team deactivated this region, blood pressure dropped to normal levels."

The published findings also help explain why people with obstructive sleep apnea (i.e. breathing problems during the night) have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

Again, this is due to the close relationship between breathing and blood flow. While pFL neurons are not involved in normal breathing, they are activated in response to high levels of carbon dioxide or low levels of oxygen, conditions that occur during episodes of sleep apnea.

But the Science Alert report confirms that this research was limited to using animal models, so it is possible - although not certain - that the same neural circuits are responsible for the same processes in humans.

However, given that nearly a third of the world's population suffers from high blood pressure, and many of them do not have access to the necessary therapeutic medications, the need for new treatment options is urgent. Having high blood pressure significantly increases the risk of many heart diseases, and has been linked to several other health conditions, such as dementia.