A Question of Pressure

Hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis) is the No. 1 killer among diseases in the U.S., leads to heart attacks, strokes, hemorrhages. Most researchers and practicing specialists have come to believe that arteriosclerosis comes mainly from excess amounts of cholesterol, a fatty substance that clogs the blood vessels. Last week, in a report, Dr. Herman T. Blumenthal, 43, laboratory director of St. Louis' Jewish Hospital, dealt prevailing opinion a rude shock. His thesis, supported by ten years of research: emotional stress is the main cause of arteriosclerosis. How does it work? Fluctuating blood pressure, working against the walls of the arteries, causes lesions and hardening.

Pointing out that metabolic changes due to aging as well as localized inflammations, e.g., syphilis and TB, play a minor role, Blumenthal evolved his thesis through an intensive study of hemodynamics--the mechanics of blood flow and pressure within arterial walls. Cholesterol is carried evenly through the body with the blood. But neither stress on arterial walls nor hardening of the arteries is uniform; both tend to coincide at artery junctions, just as water forced through a pipe exerts greatest pressure at the joints. To stay healthy the arterial wall must remain elastic, expanding and contracting with blood pressure. Normal high blood pressure exerts "wear and tear" on the arterial walls without necessarily causing arteriosclerosis. But under changing, abnormally high pressures set off by emotional stress or organic troubles, e.g., certain tumors of the adrenal glands, the arterial walls at the vulnerable junctions lose their elasticity and start to harden. Said Blumenthal: "Except for a small number of persons who have inherited abnormal amounts of fat in their bloodstreams, cholesterol is the result, not the cause of the disease." Researcher Blumenthal's next step is finding out what chemical substances the body builds to keep artery walls elastic; already he has seen a few irregular cases of high blood pressure where the body created new elastic material to offset abnormal wear and tear, notably in coronary arteries. After Blumenthal and his aides isolate the elastic substance, they will concentrate on developing a man-made elastic to compensate for the ravages of stress on man's body lifelines.

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