Differences in the activities of resveratrol and ascorbic acid in protection of ethanol-induced oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral lymphocytes

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that ethanol induces oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral lymphocytes. In the present study, protective effect of resveratrol and ascorbic acid on ethanol-induced oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral lymphocytes in vitro were comparatively investigated. Pretreatments with resveratrol at 5, 25, and 50μM, which were in the concentration range of in vitro research, significantly inhibited ethanol-induced oxidative DNA damage in 24h, whereas ascorbic acid showed such DNA protective activity only in 1h. Further study showed that both compounds could directly scavenge hydroxyl radical produced during ethanol metabolism. Resveratrol significantly inhibited ethanol metabolism by regulating alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) mRNA expressions. Moreover, resveratrol also activated the base excision repair (BER) system in mRNA and protein levels in DNA auto-repair process. However, ascorbic acid showed no effect on ethanol metabolic pathway and BER system. Thus, the present study provided the first evidence that even though both resveratrol and ascorbic acid are anti-oxidants, they possessed differential mechanisms of action in protection against ethanol-induced oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral lymphocytes.