Clofibric acid or diethylmaleate supplemented diet decrease blood pressurein DOCA-salt treated male Sprague-Dawley rats - relation with liver antioxidant status

The effects of 8-week diethylmaleate (DEM) and clofibric acid (CFA) supplem ented diet on blood pressure, body and liver weights, liver antioxidant sta tus and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity were investigated in 8-week DO CA-salt treated and untreated Sprague-Dawley male rats. It appeared that DE M and particularly CFA treatments were associated with a significant decrea se in blood pressure in DOCA-salt treated rats, and an accentuation of the decreases in body weights in both diet supplemented groups. This was not as sociated with increases in NO production in the liver. In contrast, hepatic lipid peroxidation was significantly decreased in both DOCA-salt treated a nd untreated groups on DEM and particularly on CFA supplemented diet. The p rotective effects of CFA and DEM against hepatic cellular damage could be i nvolved in the decreases in blood pressure in DOCA-salt treated rats, where CFA was more efficient than DEM. In CFA supplemented groups, there was a s trong increase in hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-peroxidas e (GSH-Px), and catalase (CAT) activities and in DEM supplemented groups, i ncreases in SOD and CAT activities and in GSH levels were observed. Our dat a suggest that normalization of blood pressure in DOCA-salt treated rats by CFA was due to an enhancement of the half-life of NO while DEM increased i ts availability.