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.