T-cells help women keep their blood pressure down in stressful situations

Hypertension is a silent killer and it often strikes without any warning. Most of the time, you may get to know that you have this condition when you visit a doctor for some other issue. Stress, tension and anxiety may trigger this condition as can a sedentary lifestyle and an unhealthy diet. But evidence shows that a woman has an innate ability to keep their blood pressure down in stressful situations. According to an interesting research at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, females have an innate ability to increase levels of anti-inflammatory T cells to keep their blood pressure down. Called Tregs, the cells are known to help protect us from an excessive immune response and are naturally associated with lower blood pressures and less organ damage. The journal Hypertension published this study.

Anti-inflammatory T cells help women maintain blood pressure

Researchers say that based on studies in this and other models, they think that the ability of women to maintain or regulate those T regulatory cells is critical to their ability to maintain a lower pressure. In the face of a multipronged front to drive blood pressure up, including a high-salt diet, females are better able to keep their pressure down by increasing levels of a T cell that selectively dials back inflammation. The cell’s levels are known to increase to help maintain a healthy pregnancy, for example, so the immune system does not attack the fetus, which has DNA from both parents.

The study supports the hypothesis that females rely heavily on Tregs for blood pressure control and this mechanism accounts for at least one of the sex differences in that control. Researchers say that this is a compensatory response to an increase in blood pressure to help the overall cardiovascular impact. They are hopeful that this innate ability that could provide a promising new hypertension treatment strategy, particularly for women.

Difference in the sexes

According to researchers, one interesting thing that has come to light is the fact that men and women may be producing similar numbers of Tregs. In fact, they have found similar numbers in the spleen. But differences may be in the recruitment and proliferation to organs key to blood pressure control like the kidneys. This is why they looked specifically at Treg levels there.

Both sexes actually experienced increases in pro-inflammatory T cells, which contribute to infection fighting. In rats, blood pressure increased significantly in both sexes by day two, but by the end of 21 days of treatment, male blood pressures were significantly higher. And, women experienced significantly more of the blood pressure-mitigating Tregs along with their lower pressures.

Men are not dependent on Tregs to maintain blood pressure

The fact that decreasing Tregs in males did not affect blood pressure may indicate that male blood pressure is not as dependent on this mechanism during normal conditions. However, the clear impact in females supports the hypothesis that females are “highly dependent” on Tregs to maintain their blood pressure. The hormone DOCA, or deoxycorticosterone acetate, prompts the kidneys to hold onto both more sodium and water, so there is a higher fluid volume in the blood vessels, which drives up blood pressure. Then, as with some humans, a high-salt diet magnifies the problem and so does the removal of a single kidney. This DOCA-salt model is a commonly used hypertension model, which provides scientists a good window for when hypertension sets in.

According to researchers a better understanding of how and why women increase their Tregs may lead to better therapies, potentially for both sexes. It will also help avoid or treat high-inflammation conditions like autoimmune and cardiovascular disease.