title: Antihypertensive effects of astaxanthin.
abstract: Astaxanthin is a biological antioxidant naturally found in a wide variety of aquatic living organisms, and has shown various pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic activities. A recent study reported that the administration of astaxanthin induced a significant reduction in blood pressure and delayed the incidence of stroke in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, suggesting that astaxanthin also has antihypertensive effect. In a study using aortic rings of spontaneously hypertensive rats, astaxanthin induced a significant reduction of the contractile responses of the aorta to α-adrenergic receptor agonist and angiotensin II, which may contribute to the antihypertensive effect of astaxanthin. In a histopathological study, astaxanthin decreased coronary artery wall thickness compared with the control, indicating the possibility that astaxanthin ameliorates hypertension-induced vascular remodeling. Astaxanthin has anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and antioxidative activities; therefore, we should perform further studies to elucidate an antiatherogenic effect of astaxanthin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine;
authors.forename: Hidekatsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yanai
authors.forename: Kumie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tada