HYPERTENSION
PRESSURE IS ENERGY
High pressure of the circulating blood, or hypertension is an ill understood, but deadly condition. According to the World Health Organization, it is the main risk factor for mortality worldwide. Although many factors have been implied, including an unhealthy life style, the cause remains unknown.
Pressure is energy, and our research focussed on the energy expenditure of the creation of high blood pressure. In a new approach, we hypothezised and found that the energy regenerating enzyme creatine kinase, the enzyme also used by the body for sprinting, increases blood pressure. Thus, persons with high activity of this enzyme, which is up to a third or more of the general population, are at greater risk to develop hypertension. Currently, we work on creatine kinase inhibitors as a potential therapy for hypertension.
BLEEDING RISK
CREATINE KINASE AND BLEEDING
The association between creatine kinase and bleeding might be less intuitively understood, but is becomes very plausible if one takes ADP into account. Please also see the Tab: Creatine Kinase.
ADP or adenosine diphosphate is a substance build of 3 submolecules, adenine bound to a sugar molecule (forming adenosine) and phosphate. Adenine is a purine molecule that is related to caffeine and uric acid, to guanine which builds creatine, and adenine is also part of DNA. Adenosine diphosphate has many functions, including the formation of ATP by creatine kinase. In a highly controlled process, ADP also to sticks blood platelets to each other, which prevents that the pressurized circulating blood system deflates when damaged, as a lack of circulating blood is an acutely life-threatening condition. We hypothesized and found that high creatine kinase activity might reduce ADP and increase bleeding risk. This means that conditions with high CK, including childbirth, might carry a greater bleeding risk. This is an important new line of our research.
