The impact of a single dose of resveratrol on intramuscular signaling and whole body fat oxidation in humans

Abstract

Resveratrol's (RSV) mechanism of action in skeletal muscle has been characterized in cellular and murine models, but RSV's in vivo signaling pathways remain unconfirmed in human skeletal muscle. Overweight males (n=8; BMI, 30.5±3.6; VO2peak, 34.0±7.3 ml/kg) reported to the lab on 2 occasions following a standardized dinner and 12 h fast. Respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and a muscle biopsy were taken while fasted, and 2 hours after breakfast supplemented with 0.3g of RSV or a placebo (PL) pill. Experiments were performed in random order using a double blind crossover design. RER increased from 0.81±0.04 to 0.84±0.06 with PL but decreased from 0.85±0.07 to 0.81±0.05 following RSV. The interaction for RER approached significance (p=0.09). A significant effect of RSV treatment was observed for p‐p38 MAPK (interaction, p < 0.05) with the decrease observed after PL (−31±28%) being reversed following RSV (+7±13%). p‐AKT increased (p < 0.05) in a time dependent fashion following both RSV (+111±68%) and PL (+79±19%). While p‐ACC tended to increase with time this change did not reach significance in either group. Significant interactions were not observed for p‐AKT (p=0.12) or p‐ACC (p=0.47). These results suggest that a single dose of RSV can influence intramuscular signaling; specifically pathways involved in the control of mitochondrial biogenesis, and may increase whole body fat oxidation. This study was funded by NSERC