Resveratrol induces apoptotic cell death in rat H4IIE hepatoma cells but necrosis in C6 glioma cells

Resveratrol ( trans-3,5,4′,-trihydroxystilbene) is assumed to possess cancer-preventive and cancer-therapeutic properties. The aim of this project was to analyze cellular effects of resveratrol in metabolically active H4IIE rat hepatoma cells in comparison to metabolically poorly active C6 rat glioma cells. Resveratrol is rapidly taken up by both cell types and acts as a potent intracellular antioxidant. On the other hand, resveratrol in higher concentrations is relatively toxic to both cell lines as measured by the neutral red accumulation assay. In H4IIE cells, resveratrol concentrations rapidly decline to very low levels during the first hours of incubation due to formation of resveratrol glucuronides. The first resveratrol effect found at 3 h after the start of resveratrol treatment was the induction of mild DNA damage as detected by the comet assay. Cell death was caused via induction of apoptosis as detected by caspase activation, oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation and formation of apoptotic nuclei. Following DNA damage, resveratrol led to an activation of caspases 2 and 8/10 at 6 h and consequently of caspase 3 at 12 h, but failed to activate caspase 9. In contrast to H4IIE cells, resveratrol is not metabolised in C6 glioma cells and accumulates to concentrations which are assumed to drive the cell into necrosis. This suggests that the mode of cell death caused by resveratrol and the usefulness of resveratrol for cancer prevention and treatment critically depends on the metabolic capacity of the tumor cell to be eradicated.