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Resveratrol is a well-known compound found commonly in grape skins and red wine, with several potentially beneficial effects on health, including heart health, stroke prevention, blood pressure and cancer treatments. However, scientists do not yet fully understand how it works and if it can in fact, be used for treatment of diseases in humans and animals.
Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that it does affect the immune systems of dogs in different ways when introduced in their blood. Sandra Axiak-Bechtel, an assistant professor in oncology at the Missouri University College of Veterinary Medicine, says this is a first step in determining how the chemical causes immune systems to react.
“This study makes it clear that resveratrol does cause the immune systems of dogs to change, but the changes it causes have created more questions,” Axiak-Bechtel said. “We found that resveratrol simultaneously causes dogs’ immune systems to increase and decrease in different ways. If we can better understand why resveratrol makes these changes and learn to control them, the chemical may have valuable uses in treatments of cancer and other diseases in dogs and humans.”
The study involved adding resveratrol to dog’s blood and measured innate immune system function. The researchers found that resveratrol caused the stimulated white blood cells to release more pro-inflammatory and fewer anti-inflammatory cytokines-signals cells use to communicate with each other during infection and inflammation. These cytokines point to a stimulated immune system. However, the researchers also observed a decrease in the ability neutrophils, which are immune cells that help fight diseases and to kill bacteria. Axiak-Bechtel says that this points to decreased immune system strength.
“It is clear that resveratrol is having a distinct effect on how the immune system reacts, but we still don’t fully understand how this reaction can be best used to fight disease. Once we have a better understanding of this process, resveratrol could be a valuable supplementary treatment in fighting diseases like cancer,” concedes Sandra in the study published in Veterinary Immunology and Immuno-pathology and carried extensively by various media.
Source: http://munews.missouri.edu |