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The stress maker

A rare genetic defect has been found to cause high blood pressure. The gene is responsible for making an enzyme that converts the stress hormone cortisol into inactive cortisone. Paul Stewart and colleagues at Birmingham University, UK, report that a defect in the gene leads to an excess of cortisol in blood that interferes with the activity of another adrenal hormone, aldosterone. Aldosterone is important in controlling salt levels and therefore hypertension (blood pressure). So by blocking a normal blood pressure control route, high levels of cortisol cause high blood pressure ( Spectrum , No 255).

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