A new genetic discovery made by a University of Michigan team may help explain why some people develop high blood pressure and others don’t -- and why some people’s blood pressure increases as they age. It also gives new insight into how the kidneys govern the balance of salt in the body, a crucial task for regulating blood pressure. And, it reveals how a gene already linked to behavior and mental health can play a role in the body, as well as the brain. In a paper published in the American Journal of Hypertension, U-M researchers report that blood pressure was higher, and more likely to rise with age, among people who had an extra-long form of a gene called DRD4. They made the discovery by studying the genes of 864 people from 286 families taking part in a long-term blood pressure genetics study called GenNet. The families all live in or near the town of Tecumseh, Mich., which since 1958 has been home to a U-M clinical research initiative called the Tecumseh Community Health Study.
