L-Arginine Improves Cognitive Impairment in Hypertensive Frail Older Adults
Pasquale Mone, Antonella Pansini, Stanislovas S. Jankauskas, Fahimeh Varzideh, Urna Kansakar, Angela Lombardi, Valentina Trimarco, Salvatore Frullone, Gaetano Santulli
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.