No abstract

Given the proportion of individuals with resistance to, and poor compliance or tolerance of, antihypertensive medication new drugs to treat this syndrome are required urgently. We show that peripheral chemoreceptors generate aberrant signalling contributing to high blood pressure in hypertension and thus reveal a novel target. We discovered that P2x3 receptor mRNA expression was up regulated substantially in chemoreceptive petrosal sensory neurones in hypertensive rats. These neurones generated both tonic drive and hyperreflexia in hypertensive (but not normotensive rats), and both phenomena were normalised by blockade of P2X3 receptors. Antagonism of P2X3 receptors also reduced arterial pressure and basal sympathetic activity and normalised carotid body hyperreflexia in conscious hypertensive rats; no effect was observed in normotensive rats. These preclinical data support the P2X3 receptor as a putative novel target for controlling human