Skin found to play a role in controlling blood pressure

Skin plays a surprising role in helping regulate blood pressure and heart rate, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. While this discovery was made in mice, the researchers believe it is likely to be true also in humans. Nine of ten cases of high blood pressure appear to occur spontaneously, with no known cause - Randall Johnson In a study published in the open access journal eLife , the researchers show that skin - our largest organ, typically covering two square metres in humans - helps regulate blood pressure and heart rate in response to changes in the amount of oxygen available in the environment. High blood pressure is associated with cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke. For the vast majority of cases of high blood pressure, there is no known cause. The condition is often associated with reduced flow of blood through small blood vessels in the skin and other parts of the body, a symptom which can get progressively worse if the hypertension is not treated. Previous research has shown that when a tissue is starved of oxygen - as can happen in areas of high altitude, or in response to pollution, smoking or obesity, for example - blood flow to that tissue will increase.