title: Quercetin prevents pyrrolizidine alkaloid clivorine-induced liver injury in mice by elevating body defense capacity.
abstract: Quercetin is a plant-derived flavonoid that is widely distributed in nature. The present study is designed to analyze the underlying mechanism in the protection of quercetin against pyrrolizidine alkaloid clivorine-induced acute liver injury in vivo. Serum transaminases, total bilirubin analysis, and liver histological evaluation demonstrated the protection of quercetin against clivorine-induced liver injury. Terminal dUTP nick end-labeling assay demonstrated that quercetin reduced the increased amount of liver apoptotic cells induced by clivorine. Western-blot analysis of caspase-3 showed that quercetin inhibited the cleaved activation of caspase-3 induced by clivorine. Results also showed that quercetin reduced the increase in liver glutathione and lipid peroxidative product malondialdehyde induced by clivorine. Quercetin reduced the enhanced liver immunohistochemical staining for 4-hydroxynonenal induced by clivorine. Results of the Mouse Stress and Toxicity PathwayFinder RT2 Profiler PCR Array demonstrated that the expression of genes related with oxidative or metabolic stress and heat shock was obviously altered after quercetin treatment. Some of the alterations were confirmed by real-time PCR. Our results demonstrated that quercetin prevents clivorine-induced acute liver injury in vivo by inhibiting apoptotic cell death and ameliorating oxidative stress injury. This protection may be caused by the elevation of the body defense capacity induced by quercetin.
authors.affiliation: The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, The SATCM Key Laboratory for New Resources and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicines and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Complex Prescription, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai R&D Centre for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, The SATCM Key Laboratory for New Resources and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicines and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Complex Prescription, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yibo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Shanghai R&D Centre for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zaiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, The SATCM Key Laboratory for New Resources and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicines and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Complex Prescription, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhunxiu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, The SATCM Key Laboratory for New Resources and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicines and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Complex Prescription, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, The SATCM Key Laboratory for New Resources and Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicines and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Complex Prescription, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai R&D Centre for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhengtao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019610:Cytoprotection / Q000187:drug effects*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction / Q000187:drug effects; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D011763:Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids / Q000633:toxicity*; D011794:Quercetin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D011763:Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids; D011794:Quercetin; C028677:clivorine