Potassium reduces cerebral hemorrhage and death rate in hypertensive rats, even when blood pressure is not lowered.
In a study of the effects of K+ in stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, adding K+ to normal chow was found to reduce the mortality from 83% to 2%, a 98% reduction. An 86% reduction in mortality occurred even when blood pressure was virtually equal in the two stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive groups being compared. Dietary K+ supplements also reduced mortality in hypertensive Dahl salt-sensitive rats from 55% to 4%, a 93% reduction. There was an 87% reduction in mortality even when blood pressure was equal in the Dahl salt-sensitive groups being compared. The added dietary K+ decreased blood pressure moderately in stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats and modestly in Dahl salt-sensitive rats, which probably contributed to the reduced death rate. More importantly, however, the added K+ seemed to prevent severe lesions in cerebral arteries and deaths even when blood pressure lowering was eliminated as a protective factor. In another group of stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, there was a 40% incidence of cerebral hemorrhage in surviving rats not receiving K+ supplements and no incidence of cerebral hemorrhage in similar surviving rats receiving K+ supplements, which suggests that K+ supplements confer protection against brain hemorrhage.
D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000517:prevention & control; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D005526:Food, Formulated; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000032:analysis; D011188:Potassium / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D012964:Sodium / Q000494:pharmacology; D014508:Urea / Q000032:analysis
D014508:Urea; D012964:Sodium; D011188:Potassium