Arsenic, which causes human carcinogenicity, is ubiquitous in the environment. This study was designed to evaluate modulation of arsenic induced cancer by resveratrol, a phytoalexin found in vegetal dietary sources that has antioxidant and chemopreventive properties, in arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃)-induced Male Wistar rats.

Adult rats received 3 mg/kg As₂O₃ (intravenous injection, iv.) on alternate days for 4 days. Resveratrol (8 mg/kg) was administered (iv.) 1 h before As₂O₃ treatment. The plasma and homogenization enzymes associated with oxidative stress of rat kidneys were measured, the kidneys were examined histologically and trace element contents were assessed.

Rats treated with As₂O₃ had significantly higher oxidative stress and kidney arsenic accumulation; however, pretreatment with resveratrol reversed these changes. In addition, prior to treatment with resveratrol resulted in lower blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and insignificant renal tubular epithelial cell necrosis. Furthermore, the presence of resveratrol preserved the selenium content (0.805 ± 0.059 µg/g) of kidneys in rats treated with As₂O₃. However, resveratrol had no effect on zinc level in the kidney relative to As₂O₃-treated groups.

Our data show that supplementation with resveratrol alleviated nephrotoxicity by improving antioxidant capacity and arsenic efflux. These findings suggest that resveratrol has the potential to protect against kidney damage in populations exposed to arsenic.