LAUSR

In the present issue of Acta Physiologica1, Khan et al. in their article “Improvement in baroreflex control of renal sympathetic nerve activity in obese Sprague-Dawley rats following immunosuppression” confirm that obesity-related hypertension involves resetting of the arterial baroreceptor to a state of less sensitivity and relate this mechanistically to inflammation-induced altered renal afferent nerve activity 1. Pharmocological treatment with the calcineurin phosphatase inhibitor-type immunosuppressant tacrolimus attenuated inflammation, reversed, paradoxically, the hypertension and restored baroreceptor sensitivity similar to the effect of renal denervation. The paper not only points attention towards a mechanistic understanding of the baroreceptor resetting associated with chronic arterial hypertension but also demonstrates a pharmacological approach to remedy obesity-associated hypertension. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.