Resveratrol Reduces Symptoms and Mortality in Colitis Model

A new study in mice has found that resveratrol, shown to help immune system health, breast cell health, stomach health, liver health, and heart health, may help reduce symptoms and increase lifespan in patients with colitis.

In the study, fifty 6-week-old mice were fed standard diets and given either resveratrol (equivalent to 30 mg resveratrol per day in a 70 kg person) or placebo for 30 days. After 30 days, both groups were then given an inflammatory injection each day for 5 days to simulate developing acute colitis that progressed to severe chronic inflammation after 21 days.

The researchers found that the resveratrol group had significantly better symptoms associated with colitis regarding diarrhea and rectal bleeding as well as “dramatically reduced histological signs of cell damage.” While 40% of the mice in the control group died before the end of the study from the colitis, all of the mice in the resveratrol group survived. Finally, 3 weeks after the inflammatory injections were stopped, the resveratrol mice had significantly lower levels of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha (32% lower: 3.75 vs. 5.5 picograms per mg of tissue) and IL-1 beta (25% lower: 9 vs. 12 picograms/mg tissue) and higher levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 (24% higher: 1.25 vs. 0.95 picograms/mg tissue).

“We conclude that resveratrol represents a novel approach to the treatment of chronic intestinal inflammation,” commented the researchers.

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis is a nonspecific inflammatory disorder characterized by oxidative and nitrosative stress, leucocyte infiltration and upregulation of inflammatory mediators. Resveratrol is a polyphenolic compound found in grapes and wine, with multiple pharmacological actions, mainly anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumour and immunomodulatory activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary resveratrol on chronic dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Six-week-old mice were randomized into two dietary groups: one standard diet and the other enriched with resveratrol at 20mg/kg of diet. After 30 days, mice were exposed to 3% DSS for 5 days developing acute colitis that progressed to severe chronic inflammation after 21 days of water. Our results demonstrated that resveratrol group significantly attenuated the clinical signs such as loss of body weight, diarrhea and rectal bleeding improving results from disease activity index and inflammatory score. Moreover, the totality of resveratrol-fed animals survived and finished the treatment while animals fed with standard diet showed a mortality of 40%. Three weeks after DSS removal, the polyphenol caused substantial reductions of the rise of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta and an increase of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Also resveratrol reduced prostaglandin E synthase-1 (PGES-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) proteins expression, via downregulation of p38, a mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signal pathway. We conclude that resveratrol diet represents a novel approach to the treatment of chronic intestinal inflammation.

Source:

Sánchez-Fidalgo S, Cárdeno A, Villegas I, Talero E, de la Lastra CA. Dietary supplementation of resveratrol attenuates chronic colonic inflammation in mice. Eur J Pharmacol. 2010 May 10;633(1-3):78-84. Epub 2010 Feb 2. PMID: 20132809

Key concepts: Resveratrol, colitis