Red wine may help protect the brain from stroke damage, U. S. researchers have said.

It was found by the researchers at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore that a molecular pathway in mice that may explain the protective effect of resveratrol, a compound found in the skins and seeds of red grapes.

Study leader Sylvain Dore says in a statement, "Our study adds to evidence that resveratrol can potentially build brain resistance to ischemic stroke."

An ischemic stroke was induced by Dore and colleagues by cutting off blood supply to the brains of mice and found those fed a modest dose of resveratrol two hours beforehand suffered significantly less brain damage than mice not given the compound.

Published in the journal Experimental Neurology, the study also finds resveratrol had no protective effect in mice lacking the enzyme heme oxygenase. Dore suggests resveratrol increases levels of this enzyme, which, in turn, helps shield nerve cells in the brain from damage.

Dore says, "Resveratrol itself may not be shielding brain cells from free radical damage directly but instead, resveratrol, and its metabolites, may be prompting the cells to defend themselves."(With Inputs from Agencies)