Effect of blueberry-enriched diet on basic physiological parameters.

<p>Body weight (A), heart rate (B), and arterial blood pressure (C). Note, results of blood pressure measurements are not available for the first 2 time points.</p

12-mo survival after MI.

<p>Kaplan-Meier survival curves following induction of MI in a sham operated group (SH- n = 10), and two groups with MI maintained on control diet (CD - n = 27) or blueberry-enriched diet (BD - n = 27).</p

Effect of blueberry-enriched diet on cardiac remodeling.

<p>LV mass (A) and posterior wall thickness (B) estimated by bi-monthly Echo during 12 months following induction of MI in rats maintained on control or blueberry-enriched diets and in sham operated rats.</p

Echo derived pre-diet indices of LV remodeling and MI size at 2 weeks following coronary ligation or sham operation.

<p>*** - p<0.001 vs SH.</p

Blueberry-enriched diet improves glutathione activity in hypertensive rats.

<p>Glutathione activities were assessed in renal cortical and medullary tissues of rats fed a control diet or a blueberry-enriched diet for 6 weeks (A) or 12 weeks (B). ^*p<0.05; ^** p<0.01; ^*** p<0.001.</p

Stilbenes and Anthocyanins Reduce Stress Signaling in BV‑2 Mouse Microglia

Blueberries contain an array of phytochemicals that may decrease both inflammatory and oxidative stress. This study determined if pterostilbene, resveratrol, and two anthocyanins commonly found in blueberries, delphinidin-3-<i>O</i>-glucoside and malvidin-3-<i>O</i>-glucoside, would be efficacious in protecting microglia from inflammatory-induced stress signaling. Microglia that were pretreated with blueberry extract (0.25, 0.5, 1, 2 mg/mL) or its components (1, 10, 20, 30 μM pterostilbene, resveratrol, delphinidin-3-<i>O</i>-glucoside, or malvidin-3-<i>O</i>-glucoside) prior to exposure to lipopolysaccharide (100 ng/mL) demonstrated concentration-dependent reductions in nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha release and decreased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. However, much higher concentrations of the individual components than those found in blueberries were needed to demonstrate the effects. For example, 1 mg/mL blueberry extract significantly reduced LPS-induced nitric oxide release; this concentration of blueberry extract contains 2.6 μM malvidin-3-<i>O</i>-glucoside, but when malvidin-3-<i>O</i>-glucoside was tested individually, 20 μM was necessary to observe a significant reduction in nitric oxide release. Therefore the protective effects of blueberries may not be due to any one component, but rather a synergism of the activity of the compounds tested and/or other blueberry compounds not tested here. These results lend further support that blueberry and its active components are able to combat some of the inflammatory mediators of aging at the cellular level

Renal hemodynamic indices in control- or blueberry-fed rats after 6 weeks or 12 weeks of feeding.

<p>Abbreviations used: WC  =  WKY corn-fed, WBB  =  WKY blueberry-fed, SC  =  SHRSP corn fed, SBB  =  SHRSP blueberry-fed, GFR  =  glomerular filtration rate, RBF  =  renal blood flow, RVR  =  renal vascular resistance, KW  =  kidney weight, Cr  =  creatinine, FE_Na  =  fractional excretion of sodium.</p><p>*p≤0.05 vs. WC;</p>#<p>p≤0.05 vs. SC;</p>$<p>p≤0.05 vs. SBB.</p

Catalase and total glutathione (GSH) levels as measured by colorimetric assays in tissues of control- or blueberry-fed rats after 2 days of feeding.

<p>Abbreviations used: WC  =  WKY corn-fed, WBB  =  WKY blueberry-fed, SC  =  SHRSP corn fed, SBB  =  SHRSP blueberry-fed, GSH  =  glutathione.</p

Total ROS, superoxide, and peroxynitrite production rates as measured by EPR in tissues of control- or blueberry-fed rats after 2 days of feeding.

<p>Abbreviations used: WC  =  WKY corn-fed, WBB  =  WKY blueberry-fed, SC  =  SHRSP corn fed, SBB  =  SHRSP blueberry-fed, ROS  =  reactive oxygen species.</p

Urine and tissue nitrate/nitrite levels as measured by colorimetric assay in control- or blueberry-fed rats after 6 or 12 weeks of feeding.

<p>Abbreviations used: WC  =  WKY corn-fed, WBB  =  WKY blueberry-fed, SC  =  SHRSP corn fed, SBB  =  SHRSP blueberry-fed, NOx  =  nitrate/nitrite.</p><p>*p≤0.05 vs. WC;</p>#<p>p≤0.05 vs. SC;</p>$<p>p≤0.05 vs. SBB.</p