Summary: | 碩士 === 臺北市立體育學院 === 運動科學研究所 === 100 === Background and purpose:Oxidative stress elevation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. Previous studies have indicated that the Protocatechuic acid (PCA) has strong antioxidant capacity. Moreover, exercise has been known to improve cardiovascular function. However, few research explored and compared the effects of PCA and exercise intervention on cardiovascular function in hypertension. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of long-term PCA and exercise intervention on cardiovascular function in hypertension, and explore its physiological mechanisms. Methods:Six-week-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were used in this study. The SHR were randomly divided into sedentary control (SHR), SHR with PCA feeding (SHR+PCA), and SHR with exercise training (SHR+EX) groups. The SHR+PCA group was feeded with, the PCA solution (0.2 g/kg body weight per day), adjusted from the daily water consumption, for a total of 8 weeks. In addition, the SHR+EX group was trained by the treadmill at moderate intensity for 5 days/week, 8 weeks. At the end of experiments, the cardiovascular responses were measured and compared among four groups. The serum levels of antioxidants and oxidants were examined, and the related vascular protein expression was also evaluated. Results:We found that, compared with the sedentary control SHR, the PCA and exercise intervention significantly could:(1) lower blood pressure; (2) increase acetylcholine-, insulin-, and IGF-1-induced vasodilation responses in aortas; (3) reduce insulin resistance; (4) increase nitric oxide production; (5) increase the protein expression of aortic eNOS, IR, and IGF-1R (6) increase the antioxidant activities. Conclusion:Either PCA or exercise training could significantly improve parts of cardiovascular function in hypertension, which may be applied in hypertensive population clinically.
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