12 september 2016

Red wine prevents the acute negative vascular effects of smoking

BACKGROUND: Moderate consumption of red wine is associated with less cardiovascular events. We investigated whether red wine consumption counteracts the adverse vascular effects of cigarette smoking.

METHODS: Participants smoked three cigarettes, alone or after drinking a titrated volume of red wine. Clinical chemistry, blood counts, plasma cytokine ELISAs, immuno-magnetic separation of CD14+ monocytes for gene expression analysis, fluorescence-activated cell sorting for microparticles, isolation of circulating mononuclear cells to measure telomerase activity were performed and urine cotinine levels were quantified.

RESULTS: Compared to baseline, leukocytosis (p=0.019), neutrophilia (p<0.001), lymphopenia (p<0.001) and eosinopenia (p=0.008) were observed after only smoking. Endothelial as well as platelet-, monocyte- and leukocyte-derived microparticles (p<0.001 each) were elevated. In monocytes, mRNA expression of interleukin-6 (2.6+/-0.57-fold), tumor necrosis factor alpha (2.2+/-0.62-fold), and interleukin-1b (2.3+/-0.44-fold) were up-regulated as was interleukin-6 (1.2+/-0.12-fold) protein concentration in plasma. Smoking acutely inhibited mononuclear cell telomerase activity. Markers of endothelial damage, inflammation and cellular ageing were completely attenuated by red wine consumption.

CONCLUSION: Cigarette smoke results in acute endothelial damage, vascular as well as systemic inflammation and indicators of cellular ageing processes in otherwise healthy non-smokers. Pre-treatment with red wine was preventive. The findings underscore the magnitude of acute damage exerted by cigarette smoking in "occasional lifestyle smokers" and demonstrate the potential of red wine as a protective strategy to avert markers of vascular injury.

Additional Info

  • Authors

    Schwarz V.; Bachelier K.; Schirmer S.H.; Werner C.; Laufs U.; Bohm M.
  • Issue

    Am J Med. 2016 Sep 12. pii: S0002-9343(16)30912-3. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.08.025. [Epub ahead of print]
  • Published Date

    12 september 2016