Meeting Abstract
Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine and grapes, is thought to possess anti-inflammatory properties in relation to cardiovascular disease, and may have beneficial effects on incisional wound healing and the body’s response to biomaterials. Liquid-liquid extraction of resveratrol from red wine was performed. After culturing Bovine Aortic Endothelial cells (BAOECs) in resveratrol to ensure there was no adverse effect on normal cell growth and morphology, it was concluded that there was no effect due to resveratrol addition. An established way to model inflammation in BAOECs is by using Tumor Necrosis Factor-a (TNF-a), which induces a large accumulation of actin stress fibers. Our data suggest that resveratrol pretreatment reduces the amount of actin stress fiber accumulation, caused by TNF-a, thus exhibiting anti-inflammatory properties. A large amount of inflammation in the cardiovascular system is caused by a wound to the endothelial layer. A wound healing assay was conducted to determine the wound healing properties of resveratrol. Resveratrol was shown to dramatically aid in the wound healing process, compared to an untreated control. Furthermore, the immune response of the body to implantable devices was investigated using a THP-1 cell adhesion assay to polyurethane, a common biomaterial used in medicine. When a foreign material is introduced into the body, an immune response is stimulated, and monocyte-derived macrophages stick to the biomaterial, hindering its function. THP-1 cells are a good in vitro model of the monocyte-derived macrophages found in the immune system. THP-1 cell attachment to the polyurethane was significantly reduced in the presence of resveratrol. These data indicate that resveratrol possesses promising anti-inflammatory qualities that may prove to be useful in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, improving wound healing, and decreasing biomaterial rejection.
