Resveratrol Fights Free Radicals, Boosts Skin Health

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—According to a study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, there was a highly significant dose-dependent reduction of intracellular hydrogen peroxide-upregulated reactive oxygen species by resveratrol at 0.01 percent, 0.001 percent and 0.0001 percent concentrations in human skin fibroblasts in vitro (2010;9(12):1523-26). The study of free radicals is particularly relevant in the context of human skin carcinogenesis and photoaging because of their ability to induce DNA mutations and damaging lipid peroxidation byproducts. Because of that, it is important to identify and evaluate agents with the ability to modulate intracellular free radicals. Significant interest exists in evaluating the chemotherapeutic and antioxidant properties of resveratrol (trans-3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene), which is found in the skin of grapes. It was selected for evaluation because of demonstrated chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic properties in a murine skin cancer model and other human cancer models through a variety of mechanisms. However, the intracellular antioxidant properties of resveratrol on free radicals in human skin cells in vitro is not well characterized. As a result, researchers investigated the ability of resveratrol to modulate the hydrogen peroxide-induced upregulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) free radicals in normal human skin fibroblast cells in vitro. Hydrogen peroxide is a well known generator of free radicals that occurs during endogenous and UV-induced oxidation processes in the human skin and was used to upregulate ROS in normal human skin fibroblast cells.