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Enhanced Baroreceptor Control of the Cardiovascular System by Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Heart Failure Patients

Alberto Radaelli, MD, Maria Cazzaniga, MD^_*, Andrea Viola, MD^_*, Giulia Balestri, MD^_*, Maria Bianchi Janetti, MD^_*, Maria G. Signorini, PhD, Paolo Castiglioni, PhD^||, Arianna Azzellino, PhD, Giuseppe Mancia, MD^_* and Alberto U. Ferrari, MD^_*,,_*

^_* Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Prevenzione e Biotecnologie Sanitarie, Centro Interuniversitario di Fisiologia Clinica e Ipertensione, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Divisione di Riabilitazione Cardiologica, Ospedale San Gerardo, Monza, Italy
Dipartimento di Bioingegneria
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
^|| Centro di Bioingegneria, Fondazione Don Gnocchi, Milan, Italy

View larger version (31K): [in a new window]   Figure 1 Carotid baroreceptor stimulation. Examples showing the effects of neck suction (NS) (–40 mm Hg, bottom) on blood pressure (BP) (top), and heart rate (HR) (center) in a placebo- (left) and in a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-treated (right) patient both before (pre) and after (post) treatment. Note the modest responses to carotid baroreceptor stimulation observed in both patients at the initial evaluation and the clearcut depressor and bradycardic responses after 4 months of treatment with PUFA but not with placebo.

View larger version (37K): [in a new window]   Figure 2 R-R interval (top) and mean arterial blood pressure (bottom) responses to carotid baroreceptor stimulation by graded neck suction in resting supine individuals before (solid lines, circles) and after (dotted lines, triangles) 4 months of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation (right) or placebo (left). Mean values ± SEM of the responses to –20 mm Hg and –40 mm Hg neck suction and the derived regression lines relating the reflex response to the stimulus are shown. Slopes and correlation coefficients (r) are indicated for each regression line. **p < 0.01 versus before supplementation.

View larger version (16K): [in a new window]   Figure 3 Alpha baroreflex index before and after placebo (white bars) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (shaded bars) treatment. Note that in the PUFA-treated group the alpha index increased significantly both in the low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) bands. **p < 0.01 versus baseline.