Dietary (-)-epicatechin improves hypertension in association with modifications in NOX and eNOS vascular expression in a rat model of metabolic syndrome.

MC LITTERIO; MA VÁZQUEZ-PRIETO; A ADAMO; PI OTEIZA; CG FRAGA; M GALLEANO

París

Simposio; 5th International Symposium: Nutrition, Oxygen Biology and Medicine; 2013

French Society of Free Radical Research

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is defined as a multiplex risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Flavonoids have shown to be efficient decreasing blood pressure (BP) in human and animal models of MS. The effects of flavonoids on hypertension appear to be mechanistically related to nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, partially regulated through the activation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and/or the inhibition of NADPH oxidase (NOX). The aim of this work was to evaluate the antihypertensive effect of dietary (-)-epicatechin (EC), a relevant component of cocoa, in fructose-fed rats, a model of MS. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups and administered during 8 weeks with fructose in the drinking water (10% w/v) in the absence or the presence of EC supplementation in the diet (20 mg/kg BW/day) as follows: Control group (C), Fructose group (F) and Fructose + EC group (FEC) according to the beverage and diet provided. BP was measured by tail-cuff plethysmography at the end of the experimental period. F group showed a significant increase in BP, which was completely avoided by the presence of EC in the diet (C=130±4; F=142±3*; FEC=133±3 mmHg; *p