Resveratrol (3,5,40-trihydroxy-trans stilbene) is commonly recognized by its antioxidant properties.
Despite its beneficial qualities, the toxic effects of this natural compound are still unknown. Since mitochondria
are essential to support the energy-dependent regulation of several cell functions, the objective
of this study was to evaluate resveratrol effects on rat brain and liver mitochondrial fractions from male
and females regarding oxidative stress and bioenergetics. No basal differences were observed between
mitochondrial fractions from males and females, except in liver mitochondria, the generation of H2O2
by the respiratory chain is lower for female preparations. Resveratrol inhibited lipid peroxidation in preparations
from both genders and organs. Furthermore, brain mitochondria in both gender groups appeared
susceptible to resveratrol as seen by a decrease in state 3 respiration and alterations in mitochondrial
membrane potential fluctuations during ADP phosphorylation. As opposed, liver mitochondria were less
affected by resveratrol. Our data also demonstrates that resveratrol inhibits complex I activity in all
mitochondrial preparations. The results suggest that brain mitochondria appear to be more susceptible
to resveratrol effects, and gender appears to play a minor role. It remains to be determined if resveratrol
effects on brain mitochondria contribute to deterioration of mitochondrial function or instead to mediate
hormesis-mediated events.This work is supported by PTDC/AGR-ALI/108326/2008 to M.S.S.
from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FEDER/
Compete/National Funds. A.C.M., A.M.S. and V.A.S. are recipient
of SFRH/BD/33892/2009, SFRH/BD/76086/2011 and SFRH/BPD/
31549/2006 fellowships, respectively
