The discovery opens the door to developing new medications to control sodium levels and treat hypertension.
Currently, drugs that lower sodium levels all have serious side effects because they also reduce potassium levels.
Frank Schroeder, an assistant scientist at BTI, developed the new technique for analyzing complex mixtures of small molecules that finally identified the hormone called xanthurenic-acid derivative. .
Prior to the discovery, researchers suspected that a hormone excretes sodium and reabsorbs potassium.
Schroeder used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to analyze partially purified urine. It revealed three completely new compounds, each of which was subsequently synthesized and injected into rats, according to MedicalNewsToday.
Two of the identified compounds, both derivatives of a common metabolite xanthurenic-acid, raised sodium levels in the rat's urine but kept potassium levels constant.
"Now, we want to know what other functions these compounds have and whether they directly influence blood pressure," said Schroeder.
The study, funded by Naturon Pharmaceutical Corp, was published in a recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
