White wine induced cardioprotection against ischemia-reperfusion injury is mediated by life extending Akt/FOXO3a/NFkappaB survival pathway

Recent studies on the protection afforded by moderate wine consumption against cardiovascular diseases have focused mainly on the activity of red wine in view of its high content of antioxidants, especially polyphenols. White wine lacks polyphenols, but it contains other compounds such as hydroxycinnamic acids (caffeic acid) and monophenols (tyrosol), which are known to have antioxidant properties. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the effect of white wine in myocardial ischemic-reperfusion injury. The experimental rats were gavaged with white wine (Soave Suavia "Le Rive" 2004) at a dosage of 6.5 mL/(kg.rat.day) for 30 days. Rats were divided into four groups: control sham (CS), wine-treated sham (WS), control ischemia (I)/reperfusion (R) (CIR), and wine + IR (WIR). All the rats in both IR groups underwent 30 min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery followed by 8, 24 h, and 30 days of reperfusion (R). Significant reduction in infarct size (21 vs 39%, n = 6), cardiomyocyte (274 vs 384 counts/100 HPF, n = 6), and endothelial cell apoptosis (387 vs 587 counts/100 HPF) was observed in WIR as compared with CIR after 24 h of reperfusion. Echocardiography demonstrated significant increased fractional shortening (32 vs 22%) and ejection fraction (60 vs 44%) following 30 days of reperfusion in WIR rats compared to CIR ( n = 6). In addition, increased phosphorylation of AKT, Foxo3a, and eNOS were found in WS and WIR, as compared to their respective controls. The gel-shift analysis demonstrated significant upregulation of DNA binding activity of NF-kappaB in the white wine-treated groups. This report demonstrated for the first time that the white wine mediated cardioprotection in ischemic reperfused myocardium is through the PI-3kinase/Akt/FOXO3a/e-NOS/NF-kappaB survival pathway.