on October 5, 2009
Published online before print October 5, 2009, doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.109.137471
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Submitted on June 9, 2009
From the Departamento de Biología Fundamental y Ciencias de la Salut (F.B., J.P.), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Nutrition and Lipid Metabolism (J.S.P., V.R.-G.), Instituto de la Grasa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain; Hamburger Synchrotronstrahlungslabor (S.S.F.), Hamburg, Germany; Nutrición y Salud Pública (E.G.-G.), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Malaga, Malaga, Spain; Departamento de Medicina Preventiva (M.C.), Hospitales Universitarios Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla, Spain; Departmento de Medicina Interna (R.E.), Hospital Clinic, Institut d'Investigacions Biomédiques August Pi Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y la Nutrición (R.E.), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: francisca.barcelo{at}uib.es.
Abstract—A currently ongoing randomized trial has revealed that the Mediterranean diet, rich in virgin olive oil or nuts, reduces systolic blood pressure in high-risk cardiovascular patients. Here, we present a structural substudy to assess the effect of a Mediterranean-style diet supplemented with nuts or virgin olive oil on erythrocyte membrane properties in 36 hypertensive participants after 1 year of intervention. Erythrocyte membrane lipid composition, structural properties of reconstituted erythrocyte membranes, and serum concentrations of inflammatory markers are reported. After the intervention, the membrane cholesterol content decreased, whereas that of phospholipids increased in all of the dietary groups; the diminishing cholesterol:phospholipid ratio could be associated with an increase in the membrane fluidity. Moreover, reconstituted membranes from the nuts and virgin olive oil groups showed a higher propensity to form a nonlamellar inverted hexagonal phase structure that was related to an increase in phosphatidylethanolamine lipid class. These data suggest that the Mediterranean-style diet affects the lipid metabolism that is altered in hypertensive patients, influencing the structural membrane properties. The erythrocyte membrane modulation described provides insight in the structural bases underlying the beneficial effect of a Mediterranean-style diet in hypertensive subjects.
Revised on June 24, 2009
Mediterranean-Style Diet Effect on the Structural Properties of the Erythrocyte Cell Membrane of Hypertensive Patients. The Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea Study
Francisca Barceló*;
Key words: Mediterranean diet • lipids • membrane structure • cardiovascular disease • hypertension