Brainstem nerve cells may curb blood-pressure swings

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers identified a few hundred brainstem nerve cells that help stabilize blood pressure, an October 28 University of Virginia Health System release said.

The finding matters because the release said rapid or excessive blood-pressure fluctuations may raise cardiovascular and brain-injury risk even when average readings look normal, but it did not report a clinical trial.

The work, published in Circulation Research, focused on brainstem adrenergic neurons, nerve cells in a part of the brain that controls involuntary functions. The release said the cells appear to limit swings as the body moves between states such as sleep, waking, standing and exercise.

"What we found is that a loss of just a few hundred nerve cells leads to unstable blood pressure even though the mean blood pressure was normal," Stephen Abbott, lead investigator at UVA, said in the release. "This shows that the system that keeps blood pressure steady from moment to moment is no longer working."

That distinction is central to the study's implication. Standard blood-pressure assessment often focuses on average values, while the release said growing evidence points to day-to-day and moment-to-moment variability as another risk marker.

Abbott framed the result as a shift in how researchers think about blood-pressure control. "Our work emphasizes a new appreciation for how we think about blood pressure problems," he said. "It's not just about lowering the numbers - it's about keeping blood pressure stable from moment to moment."

The same cell group has previously been reported as damaged or missing in people with multiple system atrophy, a rare fatal neurological disorder related to Parkinson's disease, according to the release. The condition is often linked with severe blood-pressure regulation problems.

The new paper raises the possibility that disruption of these cells may be relevant beyond multiple system atrophy, including in cases where average blood-pressure readings remain normal. The release described that as a possible path toward treatments that reduce harmful fluctuations and protect the heart and brain.

The study cannot show that people with normal blood-pressure averages are at risk because of this mechanism, or that targeting these cells would prevent heart disease or stroke. The release did not provide a sample size, participant characteristics, study model or absolute risk estimates.

The paper listed Souza, Thakkalapally, Berry, Wisniewski, Atongazi, Stornetta and Abbott among the research team. The researchers reported no financial interests related to the study, and the National Institutes of Health funded the work through grant HL148004.

For readers, the study supports the idea that blood-pressure variability is biologically meaningful, but it does not change diagnosis or treatment guidance on its own. Any clinical use would require further research showing how the mechanism performs in people and whether changing it improves outcomes.

Source: University of Virginia Health System release via ScienceDaily, October 28, 2026; Circulation Research, 2026.

Atlas360 reports health research and does not provide medical advice.