Hydrogen sulfide and the metabolic syndrome

The metabolic syndrome is a group of abnormalities including obesity, high blood pressure, hyperinsulinemia, high blood glucose levels and hyperlipidemia that together greatly increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Hydrogen sulfide (H ₂S) is a vasodilatory gasotransmitter mediator in the cardiovascular system, proposed as an endothelium-derived relaxing factor. A lack of H ₂S and its synthesizing enzyme, cystathionine -lyase, in the vasculature causes hypertension, whereas an increase in the pancreas reduces insulin secretion. Thus, research is making inroads to determine whether H ₂S is involved in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome. Several laboratories are synthesizing and testing clinically used drugs that release H ₂S. Some of these compounds are being tested for effectiveness in the metabolic syndrome.