Resveratrol has protective effects against airway remodeling and airway hyperreactivity in a murine model of allergic airways disease.

Background: New therapies for asthma which can address three main interrelated features of the disease, airway inflammation, airway remodeling and airway hyperreactivity, are urgently required. Resveratrol, a well known red wine polyphenol has received much attention due to its potential anti-aging properties. This compound is an agonist of silent information regulator two histone deacetylases and has many effects that are relevant to key aspects of the pathophysiology of asthma including inflammation, cell proliferation and fibrosis. Therefore, resveratrol may offer a novel asthma therapy that simultaneously inhibits airway inflammation, and airway remodeling which are the main contributors to airway hyperreactivity and irreversible lung function loss.

Methods: We evaluated the effects of systemic resveratrol treatment in a murine model of chronic allergic airways disease which displays most of the clinicopathological features of severe human asthma. Wild-type Balb/c mice with allergic airways disease were treated with 12.5 mg/kg resveratrol or vehicle control. Airway inflammation was assessed by bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cell counts and histological examination of lung tissue sections. Further, remodeling was assessed by morphometric analysis and lung function was assessed by invasive plethysmography measurement of airway resistance and dynamic compliance.

Results: Mice treated with resveratrol exhibited reduced tissue inflammation as compared to vehicle treated mice (p<0.05). Additionally, resveratrol treatment resulted in reduced subepithelial collagen deposition as compared to vehicle treated mice (p<0.05) and attenuated airway hyperreactivity (p<0.05).

Conclusions: These novel findings demonstrate that treatment with resveratrol can reduce structural airway remodeling changes and hyperreactivity. This has important implications for the development of new therapeutic approaches to asthma.