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Updated: May 20, 2026

Real-time Analysis of Gut-brain Neural Communication: Cortex wide Calcium Dynamics in Response to Intestinal Glucose Stimulation
Published on: December 29, 2023
Resveratrol promotes cellular glucose utilization in primary cultured cortical neurons via calcium-dependent
Jun-Qi Zhang1, Peng-Fei Wu, Li-Hong Long
1Department of Pharmacology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
Background And Purpose:
Impairment of glucose utilization contributes to neuronal degeneration of Alzheimer's disease patients. Cellular glucose utilization can be regulated by calcium-dependent signaling pathways. Resveratrol (RSV) is a plant-derived polyphenol with multiple beneficial effects, including neuroprotection and metabolic improvement. Here, we investigated the effect of RSV on neuronal calcium signal and glucose utilization.
Experimental Methods:
Primary culture of cortical neurons, calcium imaging, 2-NBDG assay and western blotting were employed to investigate RSV-mediated effects on neuronal calcium signal and glucose utilization.
Results:
RSV elevated intracellular calcium in cortical neurons via modulation of secondary messenger system including nitrous oxide, cGMP and cAMP. Secondarily, a calcium-dependent enhancement of neuronal glucose utilization after RSV treatment was observed. The effects on neuronal glucose utilization are largely dependent on RSV-induced calcium-dependent AMP-activated protein kinase activation.
Conclusion:
Our findings show that activation of calcium-dependent signaling pathways by RSV may convey improvements of neuronal glucose utilization.
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