The effect of resveratrol in tracheal tissue of rats exposed to cigarette smoke

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of resveratrol on the tracheal tissue of rats exposed to cigarette smoke.

Materials and methods: 40 adult Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups for an experiment of 6 weeks. Animals in group 1 were controls (n = 10). Rats in group 2 were exposed to cigarette smoke only, and rats in group 3 received daily intraperitoneal injections of resveratrol (10 mg/kg/d). Animals in group 4 were exposed to both cigarette smoke and intraperitoneal injections of resveratrol. Rats of all groups were sacrificed using cervical dislocation. The tracheas were removed and embedded in paraffin blocks. Sections of 4–5 μm thickness were prepared from the blocks. These sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid–Schiff, and Alcian blue and viewed with a Leica DFC 280 light microscope.

Results: Tracheal sections showed that, in group 2 (cigarette smoke group), there was desquamation of epithelial cells into the tracheal lumen, loss of cilia in the epithelial layer, an increase of goblet cells, activation of serous glands at the submucosa, and cell infiltration. In group 4 (cigarette smoke + resveratrol group), all these findings also existed but only a few sections were affected. It was observed that cigarette smoking caused morphological changes such as epithelial degeneration in the upper airway. These morphological changes were correlated with the amount of toxic substances in the cigarette smoke.

Conclusion: We found that resveratrol had a preventive role in the histopathological changes caused by cigarette smoking in the rat trachea.

Keywords::

• Resveratrol
• cigarette smoking
• trachea
• tissue damage
• histopathology

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.