Abstract
Cognitive impairment is a prevailing event in hypertensive patients and in frail older adults. Endothelial dysfunction has been shown to underlie both hypertension and cognitive dysfunction. Our hypothesis is that L-Arginine, which is known to ameliorate endothelial dysfunction, could counteract cognitive impairment in a high-risk population of hypertensive frail older adults. We designed a clinical trial to verify the effects of 4-weeks oral supplementation of L-Arginine on global cognitive function of hypertensive frail older patients. The study was successfully completed by 35 frail hypertensive elderly patients assigned to L-Arginine and 37 assigned to placebo. At follow-up, we found a significant difference in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test score between the L-Arginine treated group and placebo (p: 0.0178). Moreover, we demonstrated that L-Arginine significantly attenuates Angiotensin II-induced mitochondrial oxidative stress in human endothelial cells. In conclusion, our findings indicate for the first time that oral L-Arginine supplementation significantly improves cognitive impairment in frail hypertensive older adults. Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT04962841.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Article number | 868521 |
Journal | Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine |
Volume | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 12 2022 |
Keywords
- L-Arg
- L-Arginine
- cardiac rehabilitation
- cognitive impairment
- endothelial (dys)function
- frail adults
- frailty
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine