The special mouthwash made rats' saliva have 5.7 times more nitrate and 6.3 times more nitrite than regular mouthwash, which helps the body's natural blood pressure regulation system.

Rats using the special mouthwash had more good bacteria in their mouths that help convert nitrate to nitric oxide, compared to rats using regular mouthwash.

Using a special mouthwash for a week killed some good bacteria in the mouth, which made less nitrite in saliva and blood, and this caused blood pressure to go up a little bit.

A special mouthwash with nitrate and antioxidants made rats' blood nitrate levels jump 32 times higher than regular mouthwash after one week, which might help their heart health.

Using mouthwash that kills mouth bacteria leads to higher levels of nitrate in both saliva and blood.

The process where nitrate moves from blood to saliva and gets converted to nitrite by mouth bacteria is important for keeping nitrite levels stable in the blood.