Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in wine, reduces ischemia reperfusion injury in rat kidneys

Reactive oxygen species have been implicated in the pathophysiology of rena l ischemia reperfusion injury. Antioxidants including polyphenolics have be en found to protect renal cells from the cellular injury induced by ischemi a and reperfusion. Resveratrol, a stilbene polyphenol found in grapes and r ed wine, has recently been found to protect isolated rat heart from ischemi a reperfusion injury. This study was sought to determine if resveratrol cou ld also protect renal cells from ischemic injury. Male Wistar rats were tre ated with control, resveratrol (0.23 mug/kg). vehicle used to solubilize re sveratrol, and resveratrol plus L-NAME (15 mg/kg body wt), a nitric oxide b locker. Our results demonstrated that resveratrol administration reduced th e mortality of ischemic rats from 50% to 10% and renal damage was reduced a s indicated by histologic examination and serum creatinine level. The short term administration of resveratrol also inhibited renal lipid peroxidation induced by ischemia and reperfusion both in cortex and in medulla. Electro n paramagnetic resonance detected an increased formation of nitric oxide in the resveratrol-treated kidney that was reduced to the baseline value afte r treating the rats with L-NAME in addition to resveratrol. The results sug gest that resveratrol reduced the renal ischemia reperfusion injury through a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism.