Effect of Chlorella on blood pressure, cerebral stroke lesions, hypertensive vascular changes and life-span in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Abstract

From 5 weeks of age, stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) were fed a diet based on Chlorella (Chlorella vulgaris E-25) and were either observed until natural death or sacrificed at 29 weeks of age in order to examine the effects of the alga on blood pressure, incidence of stroke lesions, hypertensive vascular lesions and life-span.The results were as follows: 1) Elevation of blood pressure was depressed from the start of Chlorella feeding, and after 10 weeks of age the blood pressure remained unchanged at 210 to 230mmHg.2) The average life-span of the Chlorella diet group was remarkably longer than that of the control group. 3) In the Chlorella diet group, depression of plasma renin activity (PRA), reduction of incidence of cerebral stroke lesions, lowering of incidence of hypertensive vascular lesions in the kidneys, testes and adrenals, and depression of decrease in the elastin content in the aorta were recognized. This group also showed fewer changes in electron microscopical findings in the mesenteric arteries.These results demonstrated that the PRA of SHRSP fed the Chlorella diet was just as low as that of normotensive rats (WKY), and that the effects resulted in the inhibition of vascular lesions, and lowering of the incidence of cerebral stroke lesions, thus extending the life-span.

Receptor binding activities of Chlorella on cysteinyl leukotriene CysLT, glutamate AMPA, ion channels, purinergic P2Y, tachykinin NK2 receptors and adenosine transporter

“…Antagonists of this channel such as diltiazem are useful in treating cardiovascular disease and lowering blood pressure, which by reducing the heart burden lessens the heart muscle's demand for oxygen, and further helps to prevent angina in patients with coronary artery disease and irregular heartbeats (Robertson and Robertson, 1996). Our finding of binding to calcium channels L-type by chlorella could be a possible mechanism leading to its ability to improve hypertension in respect of those studies (Inoue et al, 1995, Murakami et al, 1987Mason, 2001).…”

“…Its use as a nutritional supplemental is thought to be due to physiological activating effects which result from its abundance of proteins, vitamins, minerals, food fibers and chlorophyll. As the subject of numerous studies, Chlorella and Chlorella extracts have been documented to have a variety of pharmacological effects, including improving hypertension (Inoue et al, 1995;Murakami et al, 1987), lipid metabolism (Shibata et al, 1998), antitumor effects (Tanaka et al, 1984;Konishi et al, 1985;Miyazawa et al, 1988), antibacterial activi-ties (Tanaka et al, 1986), promoting dioxin excretion (Morita et al, 1997) and immune modulation (Komiyama et al, 1986;Kanouchi et al, 2001) through inhibition of (1) matrix metalloproteinase, (2) pro-inflammatory cytokine release in human blood mononuclear cells, (3) B-cell and T-cell proliferation and (4) protein tyrosine phosphatases (Cheng et al, 2004). In recent studies, Chlorella has been shown to reduce the absorption of orally ingested dioxin and accelerate their fecal excretion in mice (Takekoshi et al, 2005b), suppress the number and area of glutathione-S-transferase placental form-positive foci (GST-P-positive foci) in rat hepatocarcinogenesis (Takekoshi et al, 2005a) and decrease dioxin and increase immunoglobulin A concentration in breast milk (Nakano et al, 2006), all of which might contribute to its beneficial effects.…”

Hypotensive, hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic effects of bioactive compounds from microalgae and marine micro‐organisms

“…Murakami et al . () suggested that Chlorella lowers the BP by regulating the rennin–angiotensin system. Furthermore, S .…”

Isolation and characterization of a starchless mutant of Chlorella pyrenoidosa STL‐PI with a high growth rate, and high protein and polyunsaturated fatty acid content

“…2004). Consumption of Chlorella resulted in the reduction of symptoms in subjects with mild to moderate hypertension (Murikami et al . 1987; Tanaka et al .…”