The Probiotic Kefir Improves Cardiovascular Function in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

In the present study, we evaluated the effects of the probiotic kefir on the cardiovascular function in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). SHR were chronically administered with oral 0.3 mL/100 g b.w. of kefir (SHR-k) or vehicle (SHR-v) for 60 days and compared with Wistar rats (WR). In comparison with NWR, SHR-v exhibited higher mean arterial pressure, which was significantly attenuated in SHR-k (108±2, 194±5 and 142±8 mmHg, respectively, p<0.01). Similarly effects were observed on angiotensin converting enzyme activity (91±7, 119±9 and 78±6%, respectively, p<0.01). The evaluation of the baroreceptor function showed that the attenuated gain (bpm/mmHg) of the baroreflex observed in SHR-v (3.85±0.03) when compared with WR (6.3±0.05) was significantly improved in SHR-k (5.8±0.04). Evalulation of vascular endothelium function showed that aortic rings from SHR-v had impaired maximum relaxing responses (%) and sensitivity (-log M) to acetylcholine (48±1.7 and 6.7±0.09) when compared with WR (78±1.4 and 8.0...