Red Mold Dioscorea Has a Greater Antihypertensive Effect than Traditional Red Mold Rice in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the antihypertensive effects of red mold rice (RMR) and red mold dioscorea (RMD) by low-dose oral administration to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). A single oral dose of 1-fold RMD (150 mg/kg) significantly (p < 0.05) decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) after 8 h of administration, but RMR showed no significant effect. During the chronic oral administration of 1-fold RMR (150 mg/kg), 0.5-fold RMD, 1-fold RMD, and 5-fold RMD to SHRs for 8 weeks, the increase of blood pressure was slowed significantly. The results indicated that only a 0.5-fold dose of RMD was able to significantly decrease both SBP and DBP. A 1-fold RMD showed a greater antihypertensive effect than 1-fold RMR, and both RMR and RMD can improve the vascular elastin structure remodeling. In comparison to RMR, RMD contained a higher amount of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and anti-inflammatory yellow pigments (monascin and ankaflavin). Moreover, RMD also exhibited higher angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity than RMR. These results suggest that RMD has greater antihypertensive bioavailability.

Neuroprotective effects of dimerumic acid and deferricoprogen fromMonascus purpureusNTU 568-fermented rice against 6-hydroxydopamine-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in differentiated pheochromocytoma PC-12 cells

“…Rice fermented with the fungus, Monascus purpureus Went (Monascaceae) (red mould rice, RMR) NTU 568, has been reported to be effective for the management of hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, hypertension, antifatigue, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and for the prevention of cancer (Li et al 1998; Lee et al 2006;Wang et al 2006;Wu et al 2009;Jou et al 2010;Lee et al 2010;Shi & Pan 2010). In our previous studies, extracts of M. purpureus NTU 568-fermented rice inhibited amyloid b (Ab)-induced neurocytotoxicity through the cooperative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms (Lee et al 2008).…”

Dioscorea Extract (DA-9801) Modulates Markers of Peripheral Neuropathy in Type 2 Diabetic db/db Mice

“…Dioscorea opposite prevents the increase of serum aldose reductase activity in STZ-induced diabetic mice (Hayes et al, 1987). The tuber storage protein of Dioscorea alata, dioscorin (Hsu et al, 2002), and red mold Dioscorea (Wu et al, 2009) exhibit angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activities. Moreover, some Dioscorea species and their constituents are known to have anti-inflammatory properties (Oh and Lim, 2008;Hiransai et al, 2010;Nguelefack et al, 2010;Mbiantcha et al, 2011).…”

Red mold, diabetes, and oxidative stress: a review

“…Beneficial effects of red mold-fermented products on blood glucose management Red mold products fermented by Monascus purpureus NTU 568 produce secondary metabolites such as monacolin K, MS, AK, and GABA, with potent hypolipidemic and antihypertensive effects that have been characterized in our previous studies (Lee et al 2006a, b;Wu et al 2009). We studied the preventive and beneficial effects of M. purpureus NTU 568 fermented red mold products on diabetic animals (Shi and Pan 2010a, b;Shi et al 2011).…”

“…3) (Gerber and Hare 1980;Pipeleers et al 1985). GABA has several well-known physiological functions, including antihypertensive and diabetic hyperglycemia prevention activities (Wu et al 2009;Soltani et al 2011). Several manufactured functional foods have a high GABA content: GABA-enriched rice germ by soaking in water (Komatsuzaki et al 2007), GABA-enriched brown rice by high pressure treatment and germination (Kinefuchi et al 1999), and red mold rice containing the Monascus fungus (Rhyu et al 2000).…”