Researchers may have found why women have an edge on salt-sensitive hy...( AUGUSTA Ga. Researchers may have fo...)

AUGUSTA, Ga. Researchers may have found why women have an edge in keeping a healthier balance between the amount of salt they eat and excrete - at least before reaching menopause.

Premenopausal women are known to have fewer problems with salt-sensitive hypertension and hypertension in general, but afterward their risks are essentially the same as men, says Dr. David Pollock, renal physiologist in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia.

The reason appears to be related to female hormones and a new-found role of a cell receptor previously thought to be only harmful, he and colleagues report in the February issue of Hypertension.

Their finding points to the need for gender studies on how these endothelin A, or ETA, receptors work in the blood vessels and tubules of the kidney. They also may help explain the swelling that occurs in some patients taking powerful new ETA antagonists, which are in use for pulmonary hypertension and under study for conditions such as diabetic nephropathy and uncontrolled hypertension. These antagonists block the action of ETA receptors which are believed to raise blood pressure and help reshape blood vessels into thick, rigid pipes.

ETA receptors have been considered the evil sibling of endothelin B, or ETB, receptors, which are believed to stimulate nitric oxide production, blood vessel relaxation and salt excretion, Dr. Pollock says. "Normally the ETB receptor system is a decision maker about how much sodium to keep and how much to excrete."

As with Dr. Pollock's rats, people with ETB receptor problems are said to be salt sensitive. "We know from other studies we have done that this endothelin B receptor is critical to keeping you from becoming hypertensive when you eat salt," Dr. Pollock says.

The body gets the sodium it needs from food and a healthy kidney should be able to eliminate excess from a high-salt diet so there is always a balance be
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