MSU professor earns Bowditch Award for work on hypertension

Dr. Watts hypothesized that since it takes less serotonin to make hypertensive blood vessels contract, that hypertensive individuals may have a higher number of receptors. This could explain why the blood vessels of hypertensive individuals react more strongly to serotonin. She experimented with one receptor and found that blocking it reduced blood pressure.

In 2006, Dr. Watts gave serotonin to both hypertensive and normal rats, reasoning that serotonin would raise blood pressure in the non-hypertensive rats and that the rats with hypertension would experience an even greater rise in blood pressure. Instead, the serotonin reduced blood pressure by 15-20% in the non-hypertensive rats and by 33% in the hypertensive animals. Dr. Watts’ lab has repeated the experiment with the same results.

The serotonin puzzle

So what to make of this latest finding, that serotonin lowers blood pressure when it’s given to both hypertensive and non-hypertensive rats" These results have Dr. Watts wondering if serotonin levels rise because serotonin is trying to reduce blood pressure.

“I’m wondering if hypertensive people have higher level of 5-HT because that’s a good thing,” Dr. Watts said. “Now we’re trying to figure out the multiple ways 5-HT can play with the cardiovascular system to cause these results.”

One possibility is that once an individual suffers hypertension, it changes how the blood vessel works, toughening vessels to handle the higher pressure and changing how it reacts in the presence of serotonin. “It’s really hard to tell which is the cause and which is the effect,” Dr. Watts said.

When Dr. Watts presents her lecture, she hopes to get ideas from other physiologists who can help her resolve this puzzle. The lecture will take place at 5:45 p.m., Sunday, April 6, at the APS session of Experimental Biology 2008 in San Diego.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The APS annual meeting is part of the Experimental Biology 2008 conference that will be held April 5-9 at the San Diego Convention Center. The press is invited to attend or to make an appointment to interview Dr. Watts. Please contact Christine Guilfoy at (301)634-7253 or at .

Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease. The American Physiological Society (www.The-APS.org/press) has been an integral part of this discovery process since it was established in 1887.