Resveratrol attenuates inflammation and oxidative stress induced by myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury: role of Nrf2/ARE pathway.

The protective role of resveratrol in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion is not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether resveratrol modulates inflammation and oxidative stress and the possible role of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) pathway in an ischemia/reperfusion injured rat heart model. Rats were randomly exposed to sham operation, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) alone, and MI/R + resveratrol. The results demonstrated that compared to MI/R, resveratrol improved cardiac function, reduced myocardial infarction area, myocardial myeloperoxidase (MPO) levels, serum creatinine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. Resveratrol also markedly enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), and reduced the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in MI/R rats. Resveratrol also enhanced levels of Nrf2 and heme oxygenase-1. In summary, these results demonstrated that resveratrol exerted significant antioxidant and cardioprotective effects following myocardial ischemia, possibly through the activation of the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway.