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Lee Swanson Research Update
Pine Bark Extract Shows Promise Against Heart Failure
August 2007
Extracts from French maritime pine bark may protect against heart failure, according to scientists. The results of a new study, published in the journal Cardiovascular Toxicology, add to a growing body of research reporting health benefits from the pine bark extract Pycnogenol.®
"We propose that a therapeutic effect of Pycnogenol may help to limit cardiac remodeling in patients predisposed to congestive heart failure-such as in the aged," wrote lead author Sherma Zibadi from the University of Arizona.
Hypertension, defined as when the sufferer has blood pressure higher than 140/90 mmHg, means that the heart is over-worked, resulting in weakening of the heart muscle and increasing of heart chamber volume. This process (known as cardiac remodeling) may eventually cause heart failure when the heart insufficiently supplies the body with oxygenated blood.
Researchers used elderly female mice and randomly divided them into four groups: control mice, mice receiving Pycnogenol only (30 mg/kg per day), mice receiving N-nitro-L-arginine-methyl-ester (L-NAME) only (a substance that causes arterial constriction) and mice receiving both Pycnogenol and L-NAME.
Two groups of hypertensive mice were assigned to receive either Pycnogenol for four weeks or left unsupplemented. After five weeks, the researchers observed that the hearts of the latter control group had significantly increased in size as a result of hypertension. In the French maritime pine bark extract group, hypertension and heart function parameters resembled those found in healthy control mice with healthy blood pressure.
"This study provides evidence that oral administration of Pycnogenol reversed cardiovascular remodeling induced by L-NAME by blocking nitric oxide production, which leads to hypertension and finally cardiomyopathy," said co-researcher Ronald Watson.
After studying the heart tissue, the researchers found Pycnogenol supplementation to significantly enhance the connective collagen matrix of cardiac tissue. Whereas the chronic hypertension in mice led to a significant loss of connective collagen fibers, the French maritime pine bark extract was found to significantly increase the collagen presence, resulting in stronger cardiac chambers.
Cardiovascular Toxicology 7(1):10-18, 2007
