Skin Sodium and Hypertension: a Paradigm Shift?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Dietary sodium is an important trigger for hypertension and humans show a heterogeneous blood pressure response to salt intake. The precise mechanisms for this have not been fully explained although renal sodium handling has traditionally been considered to play a central role. RECENT FINDINGS: Animal studies have shown that dietary salt loading results in non-osmotic sodium accumulation via glycosaminoglycans and lymphangiogenesis in skin mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor-C, both processes attenuating the rise in BP. Studies in humans have shown that skin could be a buffer for sodium and that skin sodium could be a marker of hypertension and salt sensitivity. SUMMARY: Skin sodium storage could represent an additional system influencing the response to salt load and blood pressure in humans.