L-Citrulline Supplementation Reduces Blood Pressure and Myocardial Infarct Size under Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia, a Major Feature of Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Intermittent hypoxia (IH) is a landmark of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) at the core of the cardiovascular consequences of OSA. IH triggers oxidative stress, a major underlying mechanism for elevated blood pressure (BP) and increased infarct size. L-citrulline is an amino acid that has been demonstrated to be protective of the cardiovascular system and exert pleiotropic effects. Therefore, we tested the impact of citrulline supplementation on IH-induced increase in BP and infarct size. Four groups of rats exposed to normoxia (N) or IH [14 days (d), 8 h/day, 30 s-O(2) 21%/30 s-O(2) 5%] and were supplemented or not with citrulline (1 g·kg(−1)·d(−1)). After 14 d, BP was measured, and hearts were submitted to global ischemia-reperfusion to measure infarct size. Histological and biochemical analyses were conducted on hearts and aorta to assess oxidative stress. Citrulline significantly reduced BP (–9.92%) and infarct size (–18.22%) under IH only. In the aorta, citrulline supplementation significantly decreased superoxide anion and nitrotyrosine levels under IH and abolished the IH-induced decrease in nitrite. Citrulline supplementation significantly decreased myocardial superoxide anion levels and xanthine oxidase enzyme activity under IH. Citrulline shows a cardioprotective capacity by limiting IH-induced pro-oxidant activity. Our results suggest that citrulline might represent a new pharmacological strategy in OSA patients with high cardiovascular risk.