Protective effect of dietary flavonoid quercetin against lipemic-oxidative hepatic injury in hypercholesterolemic rats

Context: Quercetin, a dietary-derived flavonoid, is ubiquitous in fruits and vegetables and plays important roles in human health by virtue of its antioxidant activity.Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the possible modulatory effect of quercetin against hepatic lipemic-oxidative injury in rats fed with a high cholesterol diet (HCD), and to highlight the underlying mechanisms of such effect.Materials and methods: Different groups of male Sprague–Dawley rats were used; one group was treated by gavage with HCD cocktail (1 mL/100 g) whereas another group was orally administered HCD-enriched with quercetin (15 mg/kg). Corresponding control animals were also used.Results: Quercetin administration significantly decreased liver triglycerides (24%), liver total cholesterol (TC) (22%), serum TC (20%), serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (31%), and duplicated serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). This study also revealed that quercetin administration significantly reduced the act...