Effects of long‐term intake of Antarctic krill oils on artery blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Abstract BACKGROUND In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in research on krill oil ( KO ) for its health benefits. However, the action of KO in lowering blood pressure ( BP ) has not been studied yet. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the ability of long‐term KO supplementation to lower systolic BP ( SBP ) in spontaneously hypertensive rats ( SHRs ) and Sprague Dawley ( SD ) rats. RESULTS Compared with the blank control ( BC ) SHRs administered edible soybean oil, the high‐dose (500 mg kg −1 body weight ( BW )) KO ‐supplemented SHRs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th weeks following oral administration, the mid‐dose (100 mg kg −1 BW ) KO ‐supplemented SHRs in the 4th and 5th weeks following oral administration and the low‐dose (20 mg kg −1 BW ) KO ‐supplemented SHRs in the 5th week following oral administration showed significantly lower SBP ( P < 0.05). However, supplementation of KO had no significant effect on the SBP of healthy SD rats. Meanwhile, 5 weeks of KO administration significantly increased the serum levels of nitric oxide ( NO ) and total NO synthase of SHRs ( P < 0.05). CONCLUSION KO has an antihypertensive effect in SHRs that is associated with an NO ‐related mechanism. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry