Astaxanthin Ameliorates Blood Pressure in Salt-Induced Prehypertensive Rats Through ROS/MAPK/NF-κB Pathways in the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus

• Published in: Cardiovascular toxicology Vol. 21; no. 12; pp. 1045 - 1057
• Main Authors: Gao, Hong-Li, Yu, Xiao-Jing, Zhang, Yan, Wang, Chen-Long, Lei, Yi-Ming, Yu, Jia-Yue, Zong, Dong-Miao, Liu, Kai-Li, Zhang, Dong-Dong, Li, Ying, Tian, Hua, Zhang, Nian-Ping, Kang, Yu-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology; Antihypertensive Agents - pharmacology; Antihypertensives; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Arterial Pressure - radiation effects; Astaxanthin; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Blood pressure; Cardiology; Catalase; CYBB protein; Cytokines; Diet; Disease Models, Animal; Extracellular signal-regulated kinase; Heart rate; Hydroxylase; Hypothalamus; Inflammation; Interleukin 10; Interleukin 6; Interleukins; Kinases; Male; MAP kinase; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1; Monocytes; NF-kappa B - metabolism; NF-κB protein; Norepinephrine; NOX4 protein; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus - drug effects; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus - enzymology; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus - physiopathology; Paraventricular nucleus; Perfusion; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Phosphorylation; Prehypertension - enzymology; Prehypertension - etiology; Prehypertension - physiopathology; Prehypertension - prevention & control; Rats; Rats, Inbred Dahl; Reactive oxygen species; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Salt; Salts; Signal Transduction; Sodium chloride; Sodium Chloride, Dietary; Superoxide dismutase; Tyrosine; Xanthophylls - pharmacology; Prehypertension; Oxidative stress; Inflammatory cytokines; MAPK; Hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus; Astaxanthin
• ISSN: 1530-7905; 1559-0259
• DOI: 10.1007/s12012-021-09695-6

Astaxanthin (AST) has a variety of biochemical effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and antihypertensive functions. The aim of the present study was to determine whether AST ameliorates blood pressure in salt-induced prehypertensive rats by ROS/MAPK/NF- κ B pathways in hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus. To explore the central effects of AST on the development of blood pressure, prehypertensive rats were induced by a high-salt diet (HS, 8% NaCl) and its control groups were treated with normal-salt diet (NS, 0.3% NaCl). The Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rats with HS diet for 6 weeks received AST or vehicle by gastric perfusion for 6 weeks. Compared to those with NS diet, rats with HS diet exhibited increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR). These increases were associated with higher plasma level of norepinephrine (NE), interleukin 1 β (IL-1 β ), and interleukin 6 (IL-6); elevated PVN level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), NOX2, and NOX4, that of IL-1 β , IL-6, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), phosphorylation extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK1/2), phosphorylation Jun N-terminal kinases (p-JNK), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activity; and lower levels of IL-10, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) in the PVN. In addition, our data demonstrated that chronic AST treatment ameliorated these changes in the HS but not NS diet rats. These data suggested that AST could alleviate prehypertensive response in HS-induced prehypertension through ROS/MAPK/NF-κB pathways in the PVN.