Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 218(3)

Resveratrol, a Natural Antioxidant, Attenuates Intestinal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats

ORHAN VELI OZKAN,¹ MEHMET FATIH YUZBASIOGLU,² HARUN CIRALIK,³ ERGUL BELGE KURUTAS,⁴ ZAFER YONDEN,⁵ MEHMET AYDIN,⁶ ERTAN BULBULOGLU,² ERSAN SEMERCI,¹ MUSTAFA GOKSU,² YALCIN ATLI,² VEDAT BAKAN⁷ and NIZAMI DURAN⁸

¹Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
²Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey
³Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey
⁴Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey
⁵Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
⁶Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
⁷Department of Pediatric Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcuimam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey
⁸Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey

The intestine is highly susceptible to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Splanchnic ischemia is the initial event that releases injurious factors, leading to systemic disorders with high morbidity and mortality. Oxidative stress mediators are believed to contribute to the intestinal I/R injury. Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in grapes, is shown to be a strong antioxidant in various tissues, with a property of an estrogen-receptor agonist. Therefore, we investigated the effects of resveratrol on oxidative injury in the intestine. Female Wistar rats were randomly allocated into four groups (n = 8, each). The sham group was only subjected to surgical procedures, while other animals were subjected to intestinal ischemia (60 min) and subsequent reperfusion (60 min). One group received resveratrol (15 mg/kg, 0.3 ml/day intraperitoneally) for both 5 days before surgery and 15 min before ischemia, while the other was treated intraperitoneally with 0.5% ethyl alcohol as vehicle (0.3 ml/day). In the I/R rat intestines, we detected severe tissure injuries (p < 0.001), the significant increases in the tissue levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) (p < 0.001), and the decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (p < 0.001), compared to the sham control. Resveratrol significantly ameliorated the intestinal injury, decreased MDA, NO and MPO levels to the sham control levels, and decreased bacterial translocation in mesentery lymp nodes, liver and spleen (p < 0.001). Resveratrol also restored the SOD activity. These results suggest that resveratrol could protect intestinal tissue against I/R injury with its potent antioxidant properties.

Keywords —— Resveratrol; intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury; antioxidants; histopathological evaluation; bacterial translocation.

© 2009 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 218, 251-258

Correspondence: Orhan Veli Ozkan, Assistant Professor of General Surgery, Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of General Surgery, 31100 Antakya, Hatay, Turkey.

e-mail: veliorhan@hotmail.com