Resveratrol induces acute endothelium-dependent renal vasodilation mediated through nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species scavenging.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Animal laboratory study in anesthetized rats (no human data).
PubMed 24431202 · doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00437.2013
What was done
In anesthetized rats, researchers evaluated the acute renal hemodynamic effects of intravenous resveratrol (5.0 mg/kg body weight). To identify the underlying mechanisms, renal blood flow (RBF) and renal vascular resistance (RVR) responses to resveratrol were measured before and after pharmacological inhibition of nitric oxide synthase with L-NAME (10 mg/kg), superoxide scavenging with tempol (1 mg/kg), or cyclooxygenase inhibition with indomethacin (10 mg/kg/day for 2 days).
What was found
Resveratrol increased RBF by 8% (from 6.98 ± 0.42 to 7.54 ± 0.17 ml·min⁻¹·gkw⁻¹; n = 8, P < 0.002) and decreased RVR by 18% (from 15.00 ± 1.65 to 12.32 ± 1.20 arbitrary resistance units [ARU]; P < 0.002). Pretreatment with L-NAME reduced the resveratrol-induced increase in RBF by 54% (from 0.59 ± 0.05 to 0.27 ± 0.06 ml·min⁻¹·gkw⁻¹; n = 10, P < 0.001). Tempol reduced the resveratrol-induced RBF response (from 0.45 ± 0.12 to 0.10 ± 0.05 ml·min⁻¹·gkw⁻¹; n = 7, P < 0.03) and blunted the RVR reduction to 44% of control (3.56 ± 0.34 vs. 1.57 ± 0.21 ARU; n = 7, P < 0.006). Indomethacin had no effect on basal hemodynamics or resveratrol-mediated vasodilation.
Why it matters
This study outlines the acute vascular mechanisms of resveratrol in renal circulation, demonstrating that its vasodilatory effect relies on increased nitric oxide bioavailability and reactive oxygen species scavenging rather than prostanoid signaling.
Limits
The study was performed exclusively in acute, anesthetized rodent models with small cohort sizes per experiment (n = 7–10), and the total number of animals was not stated in the abstract. Chronic effects, oral bioavailability, and translational relevance to human renal physiology or disease models were not examined.
Cited by
- supports Resveratrol increases nitric oxide production to improve circulation.