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Aldosterone may control circadian rhythm as well as blood pressure

Category: General Health

A hormone which plays a major part in regulating salt balance and blood pressure in the body may also be involved in controlling your body clock, according to research published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Researchers from the University of Florida in Gainesville found that a gene called Period 1 provides feedback for the circadian clock in our bodies, but also regulates blood pressure. Period 1 appears to be stimulated by aldosterone, which may explain how aldosterone produces its known effects on blood pressure.

"The results of our study could help explain clinical findings that link circadian rhythms to physiological processes, such as kidney salt handling and blood pressure," molecular biologist Michelle Gumz, an author on the study, told Cosmos. "Understanding these mechanisms certainly has implications for the treatment of blood pressure disorders."

Overproduction of aldosterone has been implicated in up to one in eight cases of high blood pressure and is often at fault when the disease doesn't respond to medication. An aldosterone test can determine if there is excess aldosterone in the blood.