Taxifolin Reduces Blood Pressure via Improvement of Vascular Function and Mitigating the Vascular Inflammatory Response in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

The effect of a 10-day-long treatment with taxifolin (TAX, 20 mg/kg/day p.o.) was investigated on spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) with a focus on the vascular functions of isolated femoral arteries and thoracic aortas. TAX reduced blood pressure in SHRs. In femoral arteries, TAX increased acetylcholine-induced relaxation, reduced the maximal NA-induced contraction, and reduced acetylcholine-induced endothelium-dependent contraction (EDC); however, TAX had no effect on the vascular reactivity of isolated thoracic aortas. In addition, TAX elevated the total nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity and iNOS protein expression but reduced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) protein expression in the tissue of the abdominal aorta without changes in Nos2 and Ptgs2 gene expressions. TAX also increased the gene expression of the anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (Il10). In addition, in vitro studies showed that TAX has both electron donor and H atom donor properties. However, TAX failed to reduce superoxide production in the tissue of the abdominal aorta after oral administration. In conclusion, our results show that a decrease in the blood pressure in TAX-treated SHRs might be attributed to improved endothelium-dependent relaxation and reduced endothelium-dependent contraction. In addition, the results suggest that the effect of TAX on blood pressure regulation also involves the attenuation of COX2-mediated pro-inflammation and elevation of anti-inflammatory pathways.