Grape pomace (V. vinifera) polyphenols attenuate inflammatory response in intestinal epithelial cells: potential health promoting properties for food production

Due to the wide availability of wine production by-products, grape pomace has attracted increasing attention for their potential health benefits. Among grape pomace compounds with high nutraceutical value, polyphenols are the most interesting due to their multiple biological activities [1, 2]. The incorporation of these remnants into food products could be useful for health promotion and chronic disease prevention, including IBD [3]. These dietary polyphenols were able to attenuate endothelial dysfunction and reduce leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium [4, 5]. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, also associated with systemic vascular manifestations. In IBD, the incidence of cardiovascular disease appears related to an increase of oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to determine whether grape pomace polyphenolic extract was able to mitigate the overwhelming inflammatory response in enterocyte-like cells and to improve vascular function. Through multiple assays, the expression of intestinal and endothelial inflammatory mediators, intracellular reactive oxygen species levels and NF-?B activation, as well as endothelial-leukocyte adhesion, were evaluated. Our findings suggest grape pomace as a natural source of polyphenols with multiple biological properties that could contribute to the mitigation of gut chronic inflammatory diseases and improve vascular endothelial function.