Machha Ajay, Mustafa Mohd Rais
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2005 Jul;46(1):36-40. doi: 10.1097/01.fjc.0000162769.83324.c1.
Flavonoids are known to possess cardioprotective properties. Vascular endothelial function is a surrogate marker for cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. We have studied the effects of chronic flavonoid treatment on vascular endothelial functions in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Starting from 6-7 weeks old, SHR were given flavonoids (baicalein, flavone, or quercetin) orally (10 mg/kg, once daily) to the SHRs for 4 weeks. Aortas from all the flavonoid-treated animals showed remarkably higher endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine, to a similar extent as those pretreated with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, captopril. However, in contrast to other experimental groups, flavone pretreatment also enhanced the endothelium-independent relaxations to sodium nitroprusside. In addition, treatment with either flavone or quercetin induced a significant attenuation in systolic blood pressure of the hypertensive animals. The present results suggest that chronic treatment with the flavonoids (baicalein, flavone, and quercetin) preserves vascular endothelial functions in hypertensive animals through several possible actions, including increasing endothelial nitric oxide production and bioavailability and reduction in blood pressure.
已知类黄酮具有心脏保护特性。血管内皮功能是包括高血压在内的心血管疾病的替代标志物。我们研究了长期给予类黄酮对自发性高血压大鼠（SHR）血管内皮功能的影响。从6 - 7周龄开始，给SHR口服类黄酮（黄芩素、黄酮或槲皮素）（10毫克/千克，每日一次），持续4周。所有接受类黄酮治疗的动物的主动脉对乙酰胆碱的内皮依赖性舒张反应显著更高，程度与用血管紧张素转换酶抑制剂卡托普利预处理的动物相似。然而，与其他实验组不同的是，黄酮预处理还增强了对硝普钠的非内皮依赖性舒张反应。此外，用黄酮或槲皮素治疗可使高血压动物的收缩压显著降低。目前的结果表明，长期用类黄酮（黄芩素、黄酮和槲皮素）治疗可通过多种可能的作用，包括增加内皮一氧化氮的产生和生物利用度以及降低血压，来维持高血压动物的血管内皮功能。
