Chemical Characterisation and Antihypertensive Effects of Locular Gel and Serum of Lycopersicum esculentum L. var. "Camone" Tomato in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.

Blood pressure control in hypertensive subjects calls for changes in lifestyle, especially diet. Tomato is widely consumed and rich in healthy components (i.e., carotenoids, vitamins and polyphenols). The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition and antihypertensive effects of locular gel reconstituted in serum of green tomatoes of "Camone" variety. Tomato serum and locular gel were chemically characterised. The antihypertensive effects of the locular gel in serum, pure tomatine, and captopril, administered by oral gavage, were investigated for 4 weeks in male spontaneously hypertensive and normotensive rats. Systolic blood pressure and heart rate were monitored using the tail cuff method. Body and heart weight, serum glucose, triglycerides and inflammatory cytokines, aorta thickness and liver metabolising activity were also assessed. Locular gel and serum showed good tomatine and polyphenols content. Significant reductions in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as in inflammatory blood cytokines and aorta thickness, were observed in spontaneously hypertensive rats treated both with locular gel in serum and captopril. No significant effects were observed in normotensive rats. Green tomatoes locular gel and serum, usually discarded during tomato industrial processing, are rich in bioactive compounds (i.e., chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid and rutin, as well as the glycoalkaloids, α-tomatine and dehydrotomatine) that can lower in vivo blood pressure towards healthier values, as observed in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Antihypertensive, cardio- and neuro-protective effects of Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) defatted larvae in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

In pre-hypertension, moderate control of blood pressure (BP) can be obtained by a nutritional approach. The effects of a diet enriched with defatted larvae of the mealworm Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) (TM) endowed with ACE inhibitory activity was studied in both spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and in the age-matched normotensive Wistar Kyoto strain. These were fed for 4 weeks with standard laboratory rodent chow supplemented with or without TM or captopril. In SHR, the TM diet caused a significant reduction in BP, heart rate and coronary perfusion pressure, as well as an increase in red blood cell glutathione/glutathione disulphide ratio. Rat brain slices of SHR were more resistant to oxidative stress and contained lower levels of inflammatory cytokines, while vascular and liver enzyme-activities were not affected. These results suggest that TM can be considered a new functional food that can lower BP in vivo and thus control cardiovascular-associated risk factors such as hypertension.

Effects of St John's wort and its active constituents, hypericin and hyperforin, on isolated rat urinary bladder.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of St John's wort (SJW) and its active constituents hypericin and hyperforin on detrusor smooth muscle contractility and their possible neuroprotective role against ischaemic-like conditions, which could arise during overactive bladder disease. METHODS: In whole bladders, intrinsic nerves underwent electrical field stimulation (EFS). The effect of drugs on the contractile response and its recovery in reperfusion phase (R) was monitored at different concentrations during 1 or 2 h of anoxia-glucopenia (A-G) and the first 30 min of R. The effects of the drugs were also investigated on rat detrusor muscle strips contracted with carbachol, KCl and electrically. KEY FINDINGS: SJW has spasmolytic activity, which increases with increasing concentration and it worsens the damage induced by A-G/R on rat urinary bladder. Hypericin and hyperforin had no effect during ischemic-like conditions but they both exert a dual modulation of rat detrusor strips contraction. At high micromolar concentrations they showed a relaxing effect, but at submicromolar range hypericin increased the plasma membrane depolarisation and hyperforin showed a stimulatory effect on the cholinergic system. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study showed that SJW and its constituents could modulate urinary bladder contractility and even worsen A-G/R injury.