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Blood Pressure
Genetic Information Improves Blood Pressure
Canadian researchers recently completed a study aimed at identifying genetic markers that cause hypertension. They studied 120 French-Canadian families in the isolated Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region in Quebec for genetic markers for hypertension on their chromosomes. Researchers found 46 significant chromosomal areas associated with hypertension and its cardiovascular and metabolic consequences.
The study results clearly demonstrate the genetic complexity of functional elements that are involved in hypertension. Hypertension is a common, complex disease in an area where past successes were mainly restricted to simple, monogenic diseases. Choice of this specific population, its comparison with other populations in the United States, detailed phenotyping and multidisciplinary approach led to the success of this study.
Studies of inbred strains of rats have provided important clues for identifying genes that cause high blood pressure in humans. Since rats contain 95 percent of the same genes as humans, they provide the ability to study the relationships of genes to allow the complex biological systems that are involved in the regulation of blood pressure. The researchers designed similar studies in the French-Canadian population and in the African American population in Milwaukee.
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