Protective effect of resveratrol on serum deprivation induced cell death in primary fibroblasts

Abstract

Resveratrol is an active compound isolated from red grape. In the literature contradictory data are available, as both its pro‐ and antiapoptotic effect have been described. The cell type used can be one of the major differences between the various models. The compound might differentially affect tumorigenic and normal cells. In this study we aimed to study its effect in non‐transformed cells, thus primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts have been used. Apoptosis has been induced by serum deprivation resulting in significant caspase 3 activation within 3 hours.Resveratrol showed dose dependent inhibitory effect on caspase 3 activation in primary fibroblasts with IC50 of 100 microM. Along with this effect it also ameliorated the cell death assessed by lactate dehydrogenase release. Among the major regulatory pathways, only inhibition of p38 kinase prevented the protective effect of resveratrol suggesting the role of mild stress in its effect, thus the effect of oxidative stress has also been studied.Our results show that resveratrol exerts protective rather than proapoptotic effect on non‐transformed cells.This work was supported by TÁMOP‐2.2.1.B‐09/1/KMR‐2010‐0001.