Role of Resveratrol for Hearing & Cognition

In that their previous studies have reported the efficacy of resveratrol, a grape compound noted for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, to reduce temporary threshold shifts and decrease cochlear hair cell damage following noise exposure, Michael D. Seidman, from  Henry Ford Hospital (Michigan, USA), and colleagues examined the potential protective mechanism of resveratrol with regard to its effect on bioinflammation – the body’s response to  injury and which may be associated with many aging-related concerns from Alzheimer’s Disease to cancer.    The study was designed to identify the potential protective mechanism of resveratrol following noise exposure by measuring its effect on cyclooxygenase-2 (or COX-2, key to the inflammatory process) protein expression and formation of reactive oxygen species, which plays an important role in cell signaling and homeostasis. The data revealed that acoustic overstimulation causes a time-depended, up-regulation of COX-2 protein expression. And, resveratrol significantly reduces reactive oxygen species formation, inhibits COX-2 expression and reduces noise-induced hearing loss following noise exposure in rats.  Observing that: “by giving animals resveratrol, we can reduce the amount of hearing and cognitive decline,” the study authors submit that their findings suggest that resveratrol may exert a protective effect from noise-induced hearing loss by the inhibition of COX-2 expression and reactive oxygen species formation.