Effect of Resveratrol-Based Nutritional Supplement on Choroidal Thickness: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The effect of an oral trans-resveratrol-based supplement (Longevinex^®) on choroidal thickness, measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT) enhanced depth imaging, was investigated in a prospective study.

Materials and Methods: 34 young, healthy participants were randomly divided into two age- and gender-matched groups. They were then assigned in a randomized fashion to treat with either a trans-resveratrol-based group (Longevinex^®, Las Vegas) or placebo. All participants underwent ocular imaging with spectral domain (SD)-OCT (Spectralis; Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg) at the baseline and then again 1 h following treatment. The choroidal thickness was measured in a masked fashion at the fovea and at four additional points, located at 500 μm and 1000 μm nasal to the fovea and 500 μm and 1000 μm temporal to the fovea.

Results: In the resveratrol group, the foveal choroidal thickness at the baseline was 267.73 ± 84.19 μm (mean ± SD); it increased to 284.57 ± 92.39 μm 1 h after drug treatment (p = 0.033). The mean choroidal thickness was also significantly increased at each of the four extrafoveal points (all p < 0.05). In the control group, the mean baseline choroidal thickness at the fovea was 269.73 ± 71.40 μm (mean ± SD) and it was 268.43 ± 70.15 μm (mean ± SD) 1 h after the placebo was administered (p = 0.183); there were also no significant differences in choroidal thickness at the four additional points (all p > 0.05)

Conclusion: A significant increase in choroidal thickness following oral administration of a trans-resveratrol-based supplement was observed. There was no change in choroidal thickness in the placebo-treated control group. We speculate that the increased choroidal thickness is the result of choroidal vessel vasodilation.

KEYWORDS:

• Choroidal blood flow
• choroidal thickness
• enhanced depth imaging
• optical coherence tomography
• trans-resveratrol

Acknowledgments

Shuaishuai Wang designed and conducted the experiment, analyzed the data, and prepared the manuscript. Nived Moonasar, Xiao Xiao, and Tiemei Yin assisted in conducting the experiment. Robert N. Weinreb assisted in study design, data analysis, and preparation of the manuscript. Xufang Sun helped design the experiment, assisted in the discussion and manuscript preparation and review, and as the guarantor of this work, took responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the data analysis. We thank Xiaoqin Yan, Wei Chen, Xiaolan Xu, and Wansheng Wang for their suggestions regarding our experiment.

Declaration of interest

This study was approved by the Huazhong University of Science and Technology Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee. The authors report no conflicts of commercial or financial interest.