Al-Bishri Widad M
Department of Biochemistry, College of Science for Girls, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
J Oleo Sci. 2013;62(9):709-15. doi: 10.5650/jos.62.709.
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and is detrimental to several organs including the liver and kidneys. The flaxseed-derived polyunsaturated fatty acids including the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids have been shown to blunt the effects of hypertension. It is however, unclear whether the flaxseed, which is rich in these essential fatty acids, could improve the liver and kidney dysfunctions observed in the hypertensive condition. To test this, functional markers of the liver and kidneys, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), uric acid (UA), creatinine, and renin were examined in hypertensive male Wistar rats fed a flaxseed diet. Normotensive rats maintained on a standard diet were rendered hypertensive with a daily administration of cyclosporin A (CYS) (25 mg/kg) for 4 weeks. Subsequently, hypertensive rats were either fed a standard diet alone or a flaxseed-supplemented standard diet (FLX; 10% W/W) for 8 weeks. Compared to normotensive rats, standard diet-fed hypertensive rats had significantly elevated blood pressure, altered lipid profile, and increased plasma levels of tissue markers measured immediately following the CYS treatment and thereafter at 4 and 8 week intervals. On the other hand, rats fed the FLX-supplemented diet had significantly lower blood pressure, an improved lipid profile and decreased tissue marker levels measured after 4 and 8 week durations. The data demonstrate for the first time the favourable effects of FLX in improving liver and kidney functions in the hypertensive condition. These effects are likely to be mediated by the alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) contents of flaxseed oil due to its demonstrated ability to lower the blood pressure.
高血压是心血管疾病的主要危险因素，对包括肝脏和肾脏在内的多个器官都有损害。亚麻籽衍生的多不饱和脂肪酸，包括ω-3和ω-6必需脂肪酸，已被证明可减弱高血压的影响。然而，富含这些必需脂肪酸的亚麻籽是否能改善高血压状态下观察到的肝脏和肾脏功能障碍尚不清楚。为了验证这一点，在喂食亚麻籽饮食的高血压雄性Wistar大鼠中检测了肝脏和肾脏的功能标志物，包括天冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）、丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）、血尿素氮（BUN）、尿酸（UA）、肌酐和肾素。以标准饮食维持血压正常的大鼠，每天给予环孢素A（CYS）（25 mg/kg），持续4周，使其血压升高。随后，高血压大鼠要么单独喂食标准饮食，要么喂食添加亚麻籽的标准饮食（FLX；10%重量/重量），持续8周。与血压正常的大鼠相比，喂食标准饮食的高血压大鼠在CYS治疗后以及此后4周和8周间隔时测量的血压显著升高、血脂谱改变，组织标志物的血浆水平升高。另一方面，喂食添加FLX饮食的大鼠血压显著降低、血脂谱改善，在4周和8周后测量的组织标志物水平降低。数据首次证明了FLX对改善高血压状态下肝脏和肾脏功能的有益作用。这些作用可能是由亚麻籽油中的α-亚麻酸（ALA）和亚油酸（LA）含量介导的，因为它具有降低血压的能力。
