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Effect of acute administration of vitamin C on muscle sympathetic activity, cardiac sympathovagal balance, and baroreflex sensitivity in hypertensive patients
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 06/26/2012
Bruno RM et al. – These results indicate that acute administration of vitamin C is able to reduce cardiovascular adrenergic drive in hypertensive patients, which suggests that oxidative stress is involved in the regulation of sympathetic activity in essential hypertension.
Methods- Thirty-two untreated patients with essential hypertension and 20 normotensive subjects received vitamin C (3 g intravenously in 5 min) or vehicle.
- Heart rate, noninvasive beat-to-beat blood pressure, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (microneurography) were monitored at baseline and up to 20 min after the infusion.
- Spectral analysis of RR interval variability and spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity were also computed.
- Vitamin C infusion significantly lowered blood pressure in hypertensive patients but not in normotensive subjects.
- Moreover, muscle sympathetic nerve activity was significantly reduced after vitamin C infusion in hypertensive patients (from 53.3 ± 12.2 to 47.4 ± 11.5 bursts/100 heart beats; P < 0.01) but not in healthy subjects (from 42.0 ± 10.1 to 42.7 ± 11.8 bursts/100 heart beats; NS).
- On the contrary, in 16 hypertensive patients, sodium nitroprusside in equidepressor doses induced a significant increase in muscle sympathetic nerve activity compared with vitamin C (+10.0 ± 6.9 bursts/100 heart beats).
