Effects of Red Wine Vinegar Beverage on the Colonic Tissue of Rodents: Biochemical, Functional and Pharmacological Analyses.

A beverage made of red wine vinegar and grape juice (Yamanashi-no-megumi™) was developed as a supplemental fluid containing polyphenols, which has been clinically shown to enhance the colonic transit. In this study, we assessed the mechanism of its prokinetic action by analyzing the effects on both the colonic phosphodiesterase activity of rats (n=4) and the isolated colonic strip preparation of guinea pigs (n=4). The 7% (v/v) solution of the beverage significantly decreased the phosphodiesterase activity by 9% (n=4). The beverage in concentrations of 0.7, 2.1 and 7% (v/v) relaxed the colonic strips pre-contracted by 1 µmol/L of carbachol in a concentration-related manner with 50, 58 and 79%, each response of which was diminished to 11, 19 and 46%, respectively in the presence of 100 µmol/L of L-nitro-arginine methyl ester. These results obtained by biochemical, functional and pharmacological analyses suggest that the beverage could relax the colon through both cAMP-associated and nitric oxide-dependent pathways, which may partly explain clinically observed prokinetic effect of the beverage.