Introduction:

Grape is one of the most important fruit crops across the world and can be consumed in different ways. There has been a growing interest in the role of antioxidants such as resveratrol, which can be found in grape skin, in oral and dental tissues. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the effect of different presentations of resveratrol on cell proliferation and epithelial thickness of the oral mucosa of Wistar rats.

Methods:

Fifty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups: water/control, red wine, grape juice, 12% alcoholic solution/ethanol and aqueous solution of resveratrol. Samples of palatal and tongue mucosa were collected for a histomorphometric analysis using hematoxylin-eosin staining and the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) technique for quantification of cell proliferation.

Results:

As to epithelial thickness, both the tongue and the palate showed a statistically significant difference between the control group and the other groups, with greater decrease in the resveratrol and the wine groups. In the suprabasal layer of both the tongue and the palate epithelium, red wine reduced the rate of cell proliferation, while ethanol increased it. In the basal layer of the tongue epithelium, there was a statistically significant difference between the control, the grape juice and the resveratrol groups and the ethanol group, with increased cell proliferation in the ethanol group.

Conclusions:

Wine does not interfere in the physiological renewal of the basal layer of the buccal epithelium and exerts a protective action by reducing the cell proliferation rate of the suprabasal layer (AU)