Scientists Might Have Found a New Cause of High Blood Pressure, And a Way to Treat It - ScienceAlert

A study has found evidence that a specific brain region could be contributing to some cases of high blood pressure. And importantly, there may also be a way to reverse it. According to the 2025 study, carried out by a team from the University of São Paulo in Brazil and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the lateral parafacial (pFL) brain region can trigger biological changes that raise blood pressure. The pFL is linked to breathing control – specifically those forceful and deliberate exhalations that happen during exercise or when we cough or laugh. In tests carried out on rats, the researchers found it can also do something else: tighten up blood vessels. That combination of breath control and blood vessel signaling could be driving hypertension in some cases, the researchers say. It might explain why so many people (around 40 percent by some estimates) still have uncontrolled blood pressure despite taking anti-hypertensive medications.