Astaxanthin is a
biological antioxidant naturally found in a wide variety of aquatic living organisms, and has shown various pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory and
antidiabetic activities. A recent study reported that the administration of
astaxanthin induced a significant reduction in blood pressure and delayed the incidence of
stroke in
stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, suggesting that
astaxanthin also has
antihypertensive effect. In a study using aortic rings of spontaneously hypertensive rats,
astaxanthin induced a significant reduction of the contractile responses of the aorta to α-
adrenergic receptor agonist and
angiotensin II, which may contribute to the
antihypertensive effect of
astaxanthin. In a histopathological study,
astaxanthin decreased coronary artery wall thickness compared with the control, indicating the possibility that
astaxanthin ameliorates
hypertension-induced
vascular remodeling.
Astaxanthin has anti-inflammatory,
antidiabetic,
antihypertensive, and antioxidative activities; therefore, we should perform further studies to elucidate an antiatherogenic effect of
astaxanthin.