Hypertension due to high salt intake linked with emotional, cognitive dysfunction
New Delhi: A new study has linked hypertension, brought about by high salt intake, with emotional and cognitive dysfunction.
The study from Fujita Health University, Japan, found high salt intake to contribute to unwanted signalling between blood pressure regulation system and certain lipid molecules, thereby causing dysfunction in the brain.
Cognitive impairment has been linked to the consumption of excess table salt, a ubiquitous food seasoning. High salt (HS) intake is also known to lead to hypertension.
Angiotensin II (Ang II) is a hormone known to play a key role in regulating blood pressure and fluid balance. "AT1" is its receptor.
Previous studies have established Ang II-AT1 and the physiologically important lipid molecule prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and its receptor "EP1" in hypertension and neurotoxicity.
However, the researchers in this study said the involvement of these systems in HS-mediated hypertension and emotional/cognitive impairment remained elusive.
This study showed how hypertension, mediated by crosstalk between Ang II-AT1 and PGE2-EP1, causes emotional and cognitive dysfunction. It is published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.
"Excessive salt intake is considered a risk factor for hypertension, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia. However, studies focusing on the interaction between the peripheral and central nervous system have not sufficiently investigated this association," said author Hisayoshi Kubota from the university's Graduate School of Health Science.
The study found in mice that the emotional and cognitive consequences were primarily caused by tau phosphorylation, or the addition of excessive phosphates to the protein "tau", a key protein implicated in the Alzheimer's disease.
In this study, the researchers loaded laboratory mice with an HS solution (2 per cent sodium chloride in drinking water) for 12 weeks and monitored their blood pressure.
"The effects of HS intake on emotional/cognitive function and tau phosphorylation were also examined in two key areas of the mouse brain - the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus," explained Akihiro Mouri, professor at the university's School of Health Sciences.
Next, they also studied the involvement of the Ang II-AT1 and PGE2-EP1 systems in HS-induced hypertension and neuronal/behavioural impairment.
The brains of the mice were found to have undergone several biochemical alterations.
Along with tau phosphorylation, at the molecular level, the researchers also observed a decrease in the phosphate groups linked to a key enzyme called "CaMKII", a protein involved in brain signalling.
Further, they observed changes in the levels of "PSD95", a vital protein involved in organising and functioning of connections between brain cells, also known as brain synapses.
All these biochemical changes were found to reverse upon administration of the antihypertensive drug "losartan". Similar reversal was also observed after knocking out the EP1 gene, the researchers said.
The study said that these findings suggested angiotensin II-AT1 and prostaglandin E2-EP1 systems to be novel therapeutic targets for hypertension-induced dementia.
To prevent adverse health outcomes, the World Health Organization recommends limiting salt intake to less than 5 g per day.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
