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  • Title: Melatonin reduces renal interstitial inflammation and improves hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
    Author: Nava M, Quiroz Y, Vaziri N, Rodriguez-Iturbe B.
    Journal: Am J Physiol Renal Physiol; 2003 Mar; 284(3):F447-54. PubMed ID: 12441307.
    Abstract:
    Several studies have demonstrated that treatment with antioxidants improves hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Because our laboratory has shown that renal infiltration of immune cells plays a role in the development of hypertension (Rodriguez-Iturbe B, Quiroz Y, Nava M, Bonet L, Chavez M, Herrera-Acosta J, Johnson RJ, and Pons HA. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 282: F191-F201, 2002), we did the present studies to define whether the antihypertensive effect of antioxidants was associated with an improvement in renal inflammation. Melatonin was administered as an antioxidant. For 6 wk, melatonin was added to the drinking water (10 mg/100 ml) given to a group of SHR (SHR-Mel; n = 10), and we compared them with groups of untreated SHR (n = 10) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) control rats (n = 10). Hypertension became increasingly severe in the SHR group [195 +/- 14.3 (SD) mmHg at the end of the experiment] and improved in the SHR-Mel group (149 +/- 20.4 mmHg, P < 0.001) in association with a 40-60% reduction in the renal infiltration of lymphocytes, macrophages, and angiotensin II-positive cells. Intracellular superoxide and renal malondialdehyde content were reduced by melatonin treatment as was the immunohistological expression of the 65-kDA DNA-binding subunit of NF-kappaB. We conclude that melatonin treatment ameliorates hypertension in SHR in association with a reduction in interstitial renal inflammation. Decreased activation of NF-kappaB, likely resulting from a reduction in local oxidative stress, may play a role in the suppression of renal immune infiltration and, thereby, in the antihypertensive effects of melatonin.
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