Penetration of Resveratrol into Bovine Aortic Endothelial Cells (BAEC): a Possible Passive Diffusion

Several studies have demonstrated that, in a context of oxidative stress, resveratrol, a polyphenol found in wine, could act as a protective agent on endothelial cells by various mechanisms but without showing that it could penetrate inside the cell. The aim of this study was to detect for the first time resveratrol inside bovine endothelial aortic cells and to determine which kind of transport mechanism was involved. Intracellular and membrane concentrations of resveratrol have been measured by high performance liquid chromatography after incubation of several concentrations of resveratrol with endothelial cells for 24h. Concentrations of resveratrol in the culture media have been determined by UV spectrophotometry and experiments of transport mechanisms have been performed. Our results showed that, for the concentrations tested (1, 5, 10 and 50 μM), resveratrol was detected inside the cells and suggested that it was able to penetrate into the cells through a passive diffusion mechanism.