A Total Red Wine Polyphenolic Extract Prevents a Pathological Phenotype Manifested on Cardiomyocytes Isolated from Rats with Nutritionally-induced Metabolic Syndrome

Isolated cardiomyocyte contractility was explored in a model of metabolic syndrome (the fructose-fed rat) and the effect of a treatment by a total red wine polyphenolic extract (RWPE) determined. Fructose-enriched diet impaired cardiomyocyte maximal shortening and velocities of contraction and relaxation, while RWPE was able to prevent those changes. Those studies suggest that red wine polyphenols are able to prevent the development of a cardiac phenotype commonly observed at an early stage of heart failure.