Most cardiovascular diseases are associated with alterations in autonomic motor activity. Human essential hypertension (EH) is a complex polygenic trait with underlying genetic components that remain unknown. We attempted to find hypertension-related genes expressed in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), which is a pivotal region regulating arterial pressure. Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and control Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), were used. cDNA microarray analysis followed by validation using real-time PCR identified 4 genes that were differentially expressed between SHR and WKY. One of these is junctional adhesion molecule-1 (JAM-1), which is highly expressed in both pre-hypertensive (3 weeks old, n=4) and hypertensive SHRs (18 weeks old, n=6) compared to age matched WKY. Using a recombinant adenoviral vector to over express JAM-1 protein exogenously in the NTS of adult WKY (n=4) we induced significant hypertension. Our data suggest that gene expression in the NTS is different between SHR and WKY and that JAM-1 appears important for controlling set point of arterial pressure at the level of NTS in the SHR. Putative mechanisms by which JAM-1 may contribute to the hypertensive phenotype of the SHR will be discussed. We acknowledge the support of the British Heart Foundation