Abstract
There is accumulating evidence from epidemiological and human intervention studies
that quercetin-rich diets can protect against cardiovascular diseases. Quercetin glycosides
are modified during metabolism, and the forms reaching the systemic circulation are
glucuronidated, sulfated, and methylated. The aim of this study was to analyse the
potential beneficial effects of quercetin and its conjugated metabolites on vascular
function on a co-culture model of human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells and human
umbilical vein endothelial cells. We observed that physiologically relevant metabolites
of quercetin were able to reduce ET-1 protein and gene expression and to increase
accumulation of cGMP in TNF-α-induced HUASMCs co-cultured with HUVECs. This is the first study to demonstrate an
ability of quercetin and its conjugated metabolites, at physiologically achievable
concentrations, to modulate vascular function in a co-culture model comprising human
vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells.
Key words
quercetin conjugated metabolites - human vascular smooth muscle cells - human vascular
endothelial cells - endothelin-1 - cGMP
