The MYSTERY of RESVERATROL

It’s long been a mystery that’s baffled scientists: how does the resveratrol actually control inflammation? Scientists from Scotland and Singapore believe they have unraveled the clues. New research published in the August 2OO9 print issue of the faseb journal, not only explains the effect, but also shows how it, or a derivative, can be used to treat potentially deadly disease. “Strong acute inflammatory diseases such as sepsis are very difficult to treat and many die every day due to lack of treatment,” said Alirio Melendez, senior lecturer on the faculty of medicine at Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre in Scotland and one of the researchers. “Many survivors of sepsis develop a very low quality of life due to the damage causes to several internal organs. The ultimate goal of our study was to identify a potential novel therapy to help in the treatment of strong acute inflammatory diseases.”

In this study, researchers administered an inflammatory agent to two groups of mice – one pretreated with resveratrol and the other was not. The mice that were not given the resveratrol experienced a strong inflammatory response, while the group pretreated was protected. The scientists then examined the tissues of the mice. What they discovered is that resveratrol uses a one-two punch by preventing the body from creating two different molecules known to trigger inflammation: sphingosine kinase and phospholipase D.  “Now that scientists have uncorked its secrets, they find that studies of how resveratrol works can lead to new treatments for life-threatening inflammation,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the faseb journal.