Daily Ingestion of Eggplant Powder Improves Blood Pressure and Psychological State in Stressed Individuals: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Study.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a globally popular vegetable and its significant health effect has not been reported in randomized controlled trials. Recently, we reported that eggplant was rich in choline esters, including acetylcholine (ACh), and had an antihypertensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Here, we evaluated the effects of a continuous intake of eggplant powder on blood pressure (BP), stress, and psychological state (PS) in 100 stressed participants with normal-high BP or grade 1 hypertension in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group comparative study. The participants were randomly assigned to the eggplant or placebo group. Participants in the eggplant group ingested capsules containing eggplant powder (1.2 g/day; 2.3 mg of ACh/day) for 12 weeks, whereas participants in the placebo group ingested placebo capsules. The primary outcome assessed was hospital BP. Secondary outcomes were stress and PS. Eggplant powder intake significantly decreased the hospital diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at week 8 overall and in the normal-high BP group, and the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and DBP at week 12 overall and in the grade 1 hypertension group, compared to those of the placebo group. It also improved negative PSs at week 8 or 12 in the normal-high BP group. This is the first evidence of the BP- and PS-improving effects of eggplant intake in humans. The functional substance responsible for the effects was estimated to be eggplant-derived choline ester, namely ACh.

Sexual behavior-associated c-Fos induction in the sagittalis nucleus of the hypothalamus in male rat.

The sagittalis nucleus of the hypothalamus (SGN) is a small nucleus located in the interstitial area between the arcuate and ventromedial nuclei of the hypothalamus in rats. The SGN exhibits male-biased sexual dimorphism and expresses estrogen receptor α and calbindin-D28K. This suggests a contribution of the SGN to sexually differentiated brain function, but its functional role is unknown. In this study, neuronal activation in the SGN during sexual behavior in male rats was examined by c-Fos immunohistochemistry. The number of c-Fos-immunoreactive (c-Fos-ir) cells was elevated with only exposure to chemosensory cues of estrous females and significantly increased after the first mount. The first intromission and ejaculation did not induce further increases in the number of c-Fos-ir cells in the SGN. These findings suggest that the SGN is involved in regulation of the early phase of male sexual behavior, including motivation.