Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and Regulation of Cardiometabolic Health: A Genotype-Guided Human Physiological Study
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Summary
Natriuretic Peptides (NP) are hormones produced by the heart, and they have a wide range of favorable metabolic benefits. Lower levels of these hormones are associated with an increased likelihood of the development of diabetes and poor cardiometabolic health. Obese and Black individuals have \~30% lower levels of NP and are at a greater risk of developing cardiovascular (CV) events as compared to lean and White counterparts. Some people have common genetic variations that cause them to have \~20% lower NP levels. Similar to other low NP populations, these individuals with low NP genotype (i.e., carrying a common genetic variation called rs5068) are at a greater risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases. By understanding the NP response following the exercise challenge and the glucose challenge in individuals with genetically lower NP levels will help us understand how to improve cardiometabolic health in them.
Description
The heart plays an endocrine role by secreting hormones called Natriuretic Peptides (NPs). NPs directly regulates blood pressure (BP) by causing dilation of blood vessels and removing sodium and water from the body. Apart from blood pressure regulation, previous experimental data suggest that NPs has a wide range of favorable metabolic effects and regulates energy homeostasis, fatty acid oxidation, lipid metabolism, glucose intolerance, insulin sensitivity, and obesity. Investigators have demonstrated that low levels of NPs can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular (CV) events (such a…