ABSTRACT
A number of risk factors have been associated to the stroke and many strategies have been proposed in order to control them as well. Vitamin K has been largely found in brain, which suggests a possible function at that tissue. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of this vitamin on the prevention of risk factors to stroke and on cognitive function on SHRSP rats. Twelve SHRSP males, 15 weeks old, were divided into two groups (n= 6 each), receiving the vehicle-coconut oil (control group) or 40 μg of phylloquinone (treated group) during 28 days. Biological parameters, systolic blood pressure and lipid profile were evaluated. Both groups were submitted to the neurological tasks. The data was treated by Student's t test and ANOVA one-way test being P<0.05 considered significant. The phylloquinone supplementation showed a statistically significant reduction in the treated group of all parameters of lipid profile and systolic blood pressure when compared to the control group. Neurological evaluation indicated a statistically significant improvement in the performance of long term memory tests in the treated group, without similar findings in the evaluation of short memory. In sum, phylloquinone supplementation was shown to modulated lipid profile and protect neuronal suffering in this model.
ABSTRACT
Several studies characterize the connection of overweight and obesity with chronic diseases. Therefore, new alternatives are being studied for controlling hypertension, such as chitin and chitosan fibers, commonly found on crustacean's carapace like Emerita brasiliensis. Rats from two different strains were divided into control and supplemented groups (n=6). The Wistar strain experiment started with a 14-days baseline period, followed by supplementation of E.brasiliensis flour added to the diet in the doses of 5, 10 and 20%, for a 14-days period each. With the optimal dose of 20%, the study was undertaken with SHR rats, starting with a 7-days baseline period, followed by three weeks of supplementation. Data were evaluated using one-way ANOVA and p<0.05 was significant. There was a clinical reduction of systolic blood pressure on Wistar rats, but only SHR rats showed a significant reduction of systolicblood pressure and total cholesterol, LDL-cho with an increase of HDL-cho. Those findings were not related to body weight changes but, instead they were associated to E. brasiliensis flour effect on serum lipid profile. This study showed that this flour could be an alternative for controlling the hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.