Upregulation of Heme Oxygenase-1 in Response to Wild Thyme Treatment Protects against Hypertension and Oxidative Stress

• Published in: Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity 2016-01, Vol.2016 (2016), p.1-11
• Main Authors: Grujić Milanović, Jelica, Komes, Drazenka, Karanović, Danijela, Jovović, Đurđica, Bugarski, Branko M., Ivanov, Milan, Miloradović, Zoran, Mihailović-Stanojević, Nevena, Vajić, Una-Jovana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - chemistry; Beverages; Bilirubin; Bilirubin - metabolism; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - drug effects; Catalase - metabolism; Drug therapy; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Enzymes; Erythrocytes - enzymology; Erythrocytes - metabolism; Glutathione Peroxidase - metabolism; Health aspects; Heart Rate - drug effects; Heme; Heme Oxygenase-1 - analysis; Heme Oxygenase-1 - blood; Hemodynamics - drug effects; Herbal medicine; Hypertension; Hypertension - metabolism; Hypertension - prevention & control; Kidney - enzymology; Kidney - metabolism; Liver - enzymology; Liver - metabolism; Male; Medical research; Mortality; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Polyphenols; Rats; Rats, Inbred SHR; Rodents; Studies; Superoxide Dismutase - metabolism; Thymus Plant - chemistry; Thymus Plant - metabolism; Up-Regulation - drug effects; Vasodilators
• ISSN: 1942-0900; 1942-0994
• DOI: 10.1155/2016/1458793

High blood pressure is the most powerful contributor to the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and inverse correlation between consumption of polyphenol-rich foods or beverages and incidence of cardiovascular diseases gains more importance. Reactive oxygen species plays an important role in the development of hypertension. We found that wild thyme (a spice plant, rich in polyphenolic compounds) induced a significant decrease of blood pressure and vascular resistance in hypertensive rats. The inverse correlation between vascular resistance and plasma heme oxygenase-1 suggests that endogenous vasodilator carbon monoxide generated by heme oxidation could account for this normalization of blood pressure. Next product of heme oxidation, bilirubin (a chain-breaking antioxidant that acts as a lipid peroxyl radical scavenger), becomes significantly increased after wild thyme treatment and induces the reduction of plasma lipid peroxidation in hypertensive, but not in normotensive rats. The obtained results promote wild thyme as useful supplement for cardiovascular interventions.