Antioxidants Lower Hypertension in Rats
30
June 2003
by Wyn Snow, Managing Editor
Venezuelan
researchers at the Universidad del Zulia in Maracaibo examined the
relationship between kidney function and high blood pressure when
hypertensive rats are fed a diet rich in antioxidants.
Rats
in three experimental groups were a strain that spontaneously develops
high blood pressure. The control group rats were normal. For seven
months after birth, the four groups were fed as follows:
- Experimental,
regular diet
- Experimental,
test diet throughout
- Experimental,
test diet for four months, then regular diet
- Normal
control, regular diet
The test diet was enriched with vitamin E, vitamin C, zinc and selenium.
Rats
on the test diet (group 2) as compared to the normal diet (group
1) displayed "significant reduction in systolic blood pressure and
plasma hydrogen peroxide concentration, together with significant
reductions of renal tissue nitrotyrosine abundance, tubulointerstitial
infiltration, macrophages, and angiotensin II-positive cells." The
significance levels ranged from P<0.01 to P<0.001.
Also,
kidney function indicators were significantly correlated with systolic
blood pressure. And results for group 3, which received the test
diet for the first four months only, were intermediate between groups
1 and 2.
The
study indicates that a diet high in antioxidants has simultaneous
effects on reducing inflammation of renal tissue and in lowering
blood pressure in rats that are genetically disposed to develop
hypertension. The authors conclude their study suggests an "interrelation
between oxidative stress and inflammatory reactivity in the pathogenesis
of hypertension."
Source
B.
Rodriguez-Iturbe et al. Abstract of "Antioxidant-rich diet relieves
hypertension and reduces renal immune infiltration in spontaneously
hypertensive rats." Hypertension, Vol 41, No 2, pages 341-6,
February 2003. In PubMed: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&
db=PubMed&list_uids=12574105&dopt=Abstract.
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