The site-specific regulation of mucus secretion and dehydration make the mucus layer firm and impenetrable for bacteria in regions close to the intestinal mucosa but loose and lubricating in regions adjacent to the luminal contents. Selective control of mucus secretion and dehydration may prove to be a key factor in the management of chronic diseases in which intestinal pathogens are involved.

OBJECTIVE: Sibutramine, a serotonin and norepinephrine transporter inhibitor, is widely used as an adjunctive obesity treatment. There have been concerns that norepinephrine reuptake inhibition with sibutramine could exacerbate arterial hypertension. DESIGN: Combined analysis of two placebo-controlled trials. SUBJECTS: The combined data set consisted of 1336 patients. Of these patients, 966 were randomized to sibutramine and 370 were randomized to placebo. MEASUREMENTS: Body weight, blood pressure, heart rate (HR). RESULTS: Sibutramine reduced body weight regardless of basal blood pressure. In the complete set of patients, systolic blood pressure did not change with either intervention over the 48-week period (À0.1715.5 mmHg with sibutramine, À0.2715.2 mmHg with placebo, P ¼ 0.9). The change in diastolic blood pressure over the 48 week period was 0.379.5 mmHg with sibutramine and À0.879.2 mmHg with placebo (P ¼ 0.049). The blood pressure response was not exacerbated in patients with grade 1 or 2 hypertension or in patients with isolated systolic hypertension. Sibutramine treatment caused a slight increase in supine HR that was sustained throughout the studies. CONCLUSIONS: Sibutramine treatment is unlikely to elicit a critical increase in blood pressure even in hypertensive patients. However, blood pressure and HR should be monitored closely. In patients who experience a clinically significant and sustained increase in blood pressure, the drug should probably be discontinued.

Hypertension and obesity are common medical conditions independently associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Many large epidemiological studies have demonstrated associations between body mass index and blood pressure, and there is evidence to suggest that obesity is a causal factor in the development of hypertension in obese individuals. Consequently, all hypertension management guidelines consider weight reduction as a first step in the management of increased blood pressure in obese individuals. Weight reduction may be achieved by behaviour modification, diet and exercise, or by the use of anti-obesity medications. However, the long-term outcomes of weight management programmes for obesity are generally poor, and most hypertensive patients will require antihypertensive drug treatment. Some classes of antihypertensive agents may have potentially unwanted effects on some of the metabolic and haemodynamic abnormalities that link obesity and hypertension, yet most hypertension guidelines fail to provide specific advice on the pharmacological management of obese patients. This may be because there are currently no studies examining the efficacy of specific antihypertensive agents in reducing mortality in obese hypertensive patients. This paper reviews the theoretical reasons for the differential use of the major classes of antihypertensive agents in the pharmacological management of obesity-related hypertension and also considers the potential role of anti-obesity agents.