Resveratrol potentiates rapamycin to prevent hyperinsulinemia and obesity in male mice on high fat diet

High doses of rapamycin, an antiaging agent, can prevent obesity in mice on high fat diet (HFD). Obesity is usually associated with hyperinsulinemia. Here, we showed that rapamycin given orally, at doses that did not affect weight gain in male mice on HFD, tended to decrease fasting insulin levels. Addition of resveratrol, which alone did not affect insulin levels, potentiated the effect of rapamycin, so that the combination decreased obesity and prevented hyperinsulinemia. Neither rapamycin nor resveratrol, and their combination affected fasting levels of glucose (despite lowering insulin levels), implying that the combination might prevent insulin resistance. We and others previously reported that resveratrol at high doses inhibited the mTOR (Target of Rapamycin) pathway in cell culture. Yet, as we confirmed here, this effect was observed only at super-pharmacological concentrations. At pharmacological concentrations, resveratrol did not exert 'rapamycin-like effects' on cellular senescence and did not inhibit the mTOR pathway in vitro, indicating nonoverlapping therapeutic mechanisms of actions of rapamycin and resveratrol in vivo. Although, like rapamycin, resveratrol decreased insulin-induced HIF-1-dependent transcription in cell culture, resveratrol did not inhibit mTOR at the same concentrations. Given distinct mechanisms of action of rapamycin and resveratrol at clinically relevant doses, their combination warrants further investigation as a potential antiaging, antiobesity and antidiabetic modality.