Washington: Scientists have discovered a natural hormone from human urine – a xanthurenic-acid derivative, which could safely flush sodium out of human body, and could be harnessed for developing effective treatments for high blood pressure or hypertension.

Frank Schroeder, an assistant scientist at Cornell and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI), with other researchers developed a new technique to analyze complex mixtures of small molecules, and identified the hormone from human urine. With this discovery, more developments can be made to novel medications to control sodium levels and treat hypertension.

Earlier, it was known that a human steroid known as ‘Aldosterone’ activates the kidney to reabsorb sodium and excrete potassium, which led them to suspect that there must be another hormone that would trigger the kidney to do the opposite- excrete sodium and reabsorb potassium.

In the rat-model study, Schroeder developed an approach based on the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy (a tool chemists used to determine the structures of unknown compounds) of partially purified urine.

In the findings, the usage of techniques showed three completely new compounds, which were synthesized and injected into rats. The rats’ urine was observed.

The identified compounds increased the sodium levels in urine of rate but kept potassium levels stable.

Schroeder said that newly identified molecule was more similar in structure to such amino acid-derived neurotransmitters as dopamine and serotonin and, therefore, might also play other roles in the body.

Schroeder said, “Now, we want to know what other functions these compounds have and whether they directly influence blood pressure.”

The study was released in a most recent issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.