Comparative study of lipophilicity, cell membrane permeability, and intracellular antioxidant capacity of resveratrol and pterostilbene

  • J Nutr Biochem. 2025 Sep 5:147:110095. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2025.110095.
Tengteng Huang  1 ,  Xiaoling Chen  1 ,  Daiwen Chen  1 ,  Bing Yu  1 ,  Hui Yan  1 ,  Ping Zheng  1 ,  Junqiu Luo  1 ,  Zhiqing Huang  2
Affiliations
  • 1. Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China.
  • 2. Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 40915507 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2025.110095
Abstract

Pterostilbene (PTS), a methylated analog of resveratrol (RES), demonstrates superior bioavailability, potentially attributable to enhanced lipophilicity and cell membrane permeability compared to RES. However, this hypothesis lacked experimental validation. The objective of this study was to compare the lipophilicity, cell membrane permeability, and intracellular antioxidant capacity of RES and PTS. Lipophilicity was assessed via the shake-flask method, revealing higher lipophilicity for PTS than RES. Molecular dynamics simulations predicted stronger membrane permeability for PTS. Cellular uptake studies in IPEC-J2 cells and porcine myotubes using cyanine2-labeled RES (CY2-RES) and PTS (CY2-PTS) confirmed these predictions, with fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry consistently demonstrating higher intracellular accumulation of CY2-PTS compared to CY2-RES. Furthermore, PTS exhibited stronger intracellular ROS-scavenging capacity than RES in IPEC-J2 cells and porcine myotubes. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that PTS exhibits superior lipophilicity, enhanced membrane permeability, and stronger intracellular antioxidant capacity compared to RES.

Keywords
Antioxidant capacity; Cell membrane permeability; Lipophilicity; Pterostilbene; Resveratrol.
Products