A natural product, resveratrol, protects against high-glucose-induced developmental damage in chicken embryo

Abstract

Resveratrol, a famous plant-derived polyphenolic phytoalexin, has been considered to play physiological roles such as antioxidative, neuroprotective, and anticancer effects in adults. However, its antioxidative activity and neuroprotective effect were seldom discussed in the embryonic system. In this study, the effect of resveratrol on chicken embryo development under high glucose and its underlying mechanism of resveratrol were investigated. High glucose administrated to chicken embryo at embryonic Day 1 induced stillbirth, growth retardation, and impaired blood vessel development on yolk sac. However, resveratrol supplementation before glucose exposure showed significant effect on decreasing the death rate, developmental damage, and vessel injury. In addition, oxidative stress was caused by high-glucose exposure, and resveratrol could rescue this high-glucose-induced oxidative stress. Moreover, the neural developmental marker paired box 3 was significantly decreased by high glucose and recovered by resveratrol. Cell cycle-regulated gene expression was also intervened by resveratrol. This study had found an association between resveratrol and hyperglycemia-induced embryonic damage, which suggested a potential protective effect of resveratrol on gestational diabetes.

Keywords::

• resveratrol
• high glucose
• embryo development
• antioxidation

Acknowledgement

The authors Rui-Rong Tan and Shi-Jie Zhang equally contributed to this work.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Notes

Dedicated to Professor Xin-Sheng Yao on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported, in part, by the Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81473115], [grant number 81402981]; State Project for Essential Drug Research and Development [grant number 2013ZX09103002-018]; Trans-Century Training Program Foundation for the Talents of the State Education Commission [grant number NCET-12-0678]; Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province [grant number S20120011316]; Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou [grant number 2012J22000073], [grant number 2013J4501037].