Hair loss affects millions of people at some time in their life, and safe and efficient treatments for hair loss are a significant unmet medical need. We report that topical delivery of quercetin (Que) stimulates resting hair follicles to grow with rapid follicular keratinocyte proliferation and replenishes perifollicular microvasculature in mice. We construct dynamic single-cell transcriptome landscape over the course of hair regrowth and find that Que treatment stimulates the differentiation trajectory in the hair follicles and induces an angiogenic signature in dermal endothelial cells by activating HIF-1α in endothelial cells. Skin administration of a HIF-1α agonist partially recapitulates the pro-angiogenesis and hair-growing effects of Que. Together, these findings provide a molecular understanding for the efficacy of Que in hair regrowth, which underscores the translational potential of targeting the hair follicle niche as a strategy for regenerative medicine, and suggest a route of pharmacological intervention that may promote hair regrowth.
Mice ; Animals ; Quercetin/pharmacology* ; Endothelial Cells ; Hair ; Hair Follicle ; Alopecia

AIMTo compare the TAOC of quercetin, rutin, vitamin C, vitamin E in vitro and examine the effect of quercetin on TAOC of rat plasma after intragastric administration.

METHODSFe3+ reducing ability assay, UV spectrum analysis and HPLC analysis were used to measure TAOC of plasma and the contents of quercetin and rutin after intragastric administration.

RESULTSThe TAOC of quercetin was stronger than that of rutin and roughly equal to vitamin C and vitamin E in vitro. After intragastric administration of quercetin (40 mg/kg bw), the TAOC and content of quercetin in rat plasma increased significantly. Vitamin C also increased plasma TAOC significantly, but rutin and vitamin E didn't after intragastric administration. However, there was no remarkable absorption peak of quercetin on HPLC chromatograms and on the other hand, the peak areas of two unknown peaks near quercetin peak were increased after intragastric administration of quercetin.

CONCLUSIONThe antioxidant capacity of quercetin was stronger than rutin and comparable to vitamin C both in vitro and in vivo. After absorption, quercetin is metabolized to its derivatives.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; Ascorbic Acid ; pharmacology ; Male ; Quercetin ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Rutin ; pharmacology ; Vitamin E ; pharmacology

The testis is an immune-privileged organ susceptible to oxidative stress and inflammation, two major factors implicated in male infertility. A reduction in the concentration and activities of testicular function biomarkers has been shown to correlate with impaired hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis and oxidative stress. However, the use of natural products to ameliorate these oxidative stress-induced changes may be essential to improving male reproductive function. Quercetin possesses several pharmacological activities that may help to combat cellular reproduction-related assaults, such as altered sperm function and reproductive hormone dysfunction, and dysregulated testicular apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Studies have shown that quercetin ameliorates testicular toxicity, largely by inhibiting the generation of reactive oxygen species, with the aid of the two antioxidant pharmacophores present in its ring structure. The radical-scavenging property of quercetin may alter signal transduction of oxidative stress-induced apoptosis, prevent inflammation, and increase sperm quality in relation to the hormonal concentration. In this review, the therapeutic potential of quercetin in mediating male reproductive health is discussed.
Antioxidants/pharmacology* ; Apoptosis ; Humans ; Inflammation/drug therapy* ; Lipid Peroxidation ; Male ; Oxidative Stress ; Quercetin/pharmacology* ; Semen ; Testis

OBJECTIVETo investigate and compare the protective effects of Astragaloside IV (AST) and Quercetin (QUE) on rat myocardial cells after their exposure to hypoxia, and to determine their dose-effect relationship.

METHODSMyocardial cells from fetal SD rat were cultured in vitro and divided into 7 groups: i.e. A (hypoxia), B (hypoxia and 100 mg/L of QUE), C (hypoxia and 50 mg/L of QUE), D (hypoxia and 25 mg/L of QUE), E (hypoxia and 50.0 mg/L of AST), F (hypoxia and 25.0 mg/L of AST), G (hypoxia and 12.5 mg/L AST) H(hypoxia and 10 mg/L of VitE) groups. Different doses of AST and QUE were added into the culture media cells in each group before the myocardial cells receiving hypoxia for 12 hrs. The number of viable cells (CCK-8) and the content of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), active oxygen (ROS, with detection only in A, C, F and H groups) were determined after hypoxia.

RESULTSThe amount of LDH, MDA, ROS (C, F groups) in group B - G decreased significantly compared with those of group A, while the number of viable cells and the SOD content increased significantly. The protective effects were better in group B - G than that of the group H. With the same dosage, levels of LDH, CCK-8 in AST-treated groups were significantly lower than those in QUE-treated group (the number of viable cells in group C, F was 0.454 +/- 0.018, 0.471 +/- 0.017, and the content of lactate dehydrogenase was 2800 +/- 9,2312 +/- 52). There were no significant differences in MDA, SOD and ROS levels between AST and QUE treated groups (ROS in C and F groups were 16.0 +/- 5.3 vs 22.4 +/- 8.7, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAST and QUE might be beneficial in the protection of myocardial cells against hypoxia because of attenuation of oxidative damage. The protective effects of both AST and QUE are better than that of VitE, and that of AST is better than QUE as shown by a decrease in the amount of LDH and increase in the number of viable cells with the same dosage, but no obvious difference is shown between them in attenuating oxidative damage.

Animals ; Cell Hypoxia ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Quercetin ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Saponins ; pharmacology ; Triterpenes ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo study the in vitro anti-human cytomegalovirus effect and the cytotoxicity of Forsythia suspensa and its main active ingredient quercetin.

METHODThe 0% toxic dose (TD0), minimum effective concentration (MEC) and therapeutic index (TI) of anti-human cytomegalovirus activity by F. suspensa and quercetin were detected with the cytopathic assay and MTT method. Ganciclovir was used as the control drug for comparison.

RESULTThe TD0 of ganciclovir, F. suspensa and quercetin were 10, 30, 30 mg L(-1), the MEC were 10, 30, 0.3 mg x L(-1), TI were 1, 1 and 100, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe anti-human cytomegalovirus effect of quercetin is much higher than ganciclovir and F. suspensa, and the cytotoxicity is equivalent to F. suspensa but lower than ganciclovir. Therefore, quercetin has the potential advantages of anti-human cytomegalovirus effect.

Antiviral Agents ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Cell Line ; Cytomegalovirus ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Forsythia ; chemistry ; Humans ; Quercetin ; pharmacology ; toxicity

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the mRNA expression of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) in different prostate cancer cell lines including RWPE-1, LNCaP, PC-3, and TSU-Pr1 and to further analyze the effect of quercetin on PC-3 cell lines.

METHODSThe in vitro cultured human prostate cancer cell lines RWPE-1, LNCaP, PC-3, and TSU-Pr1 were randomly divided into four groups: control group; negative control group (treated with dimethyl sulfoxide), high-dose group (treated with 150 Μl 0.6 mg/ml quercetin), and low-dose group (treated with 150 Μl 0.3 mg/ml quercetin). The mRNA expression of HSP27 was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining.

RESULTSRT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining showed that HSP27 expression were highly dependent on the cell types and increased in an order of RWPE-1, LNCaP, PC-3, and TSU-Pr1 after quercetin treatment. The HSP27 mRNA expression levels were 128%, 110%, 50%, and 60% in control group, negative control group, high-dose group, and low-dose group. Obviously, it was significantly lower in the high-dose group and low-dose group than in the control group (both P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSHSP27 expression level is associated with the the degree of prostate cancer. Quercetin may inhibit HSP27 expression in PC-3 cell.

Cell Line, Tumor ; HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Quercetin ; pharmacology

The study was aimed to investigate the effect of quercetin, flavonoid molecules on reversing leukemia multidrug resistance and its mechanism. K562/A cells were cultured in vitro with different concentrations of quercetin. Cell growth inhibition and adriamycin (ADR) sensitivity were detected by MTT method. Intracellular ADR concentration was determined by flow cytometry. Cell apoptosis was assayed by Annexin V/PI staining method. The expressions of drug transporter and apoptosis related genes were measured by real-time PCR array. The results indicated that quercetin inhibited the proliferation of K562 and K562/A in 5-160 µmol/L and with dose-dependent manner. Quercetin increased the sensitivity of K562/A cells to ADR in a low toxicity concentration. Flow cytometry showed that the quercetin increased the accumulation of ADR in K562/A cells when cells were co-cultured with 5 µmol/L ADR for 2 hours. Quercetin could induce the apoptosis of K562 and K562/A cells with dose dependent manner. Furthermore, some drug transport related genes such as ATP-binding cassette (ABC) and solute carrier (SLC) and some apoptosis-related genes such as BCL-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) families were down-regulated by quercetin. It is concluded that quercetin reverses MDR of leukemic cells by multiple mechanisms and the reversing effect is positively related to drug concentration.
Drug Resistance, Multiple ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; drug effects ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Quercetin ; pharmacology

Cell Line ; Cholesterol ; biosynthesis ; Hepatocytes ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Synthase ; metabolism ; Lipogenesis ; Quercetin ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potential mechanism of Yishen Qutong Granules (YSQTG) for the treatment of esophageal cancer using network pharmacology and experimental research. METHODS: The effective components and molecular mechanism of YSQTG in treating esophageal cancer were expounded based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. The key compound was identified by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) to verify the malignant phenotype of the key compounds in the treatment of esophageal cancer. Then, the interaction proteins of key compounds were screened by pull-down assay combined with mass spectrometry. RNA-seq was used to screen the differential genes in the treatment of esophageal cancer by key compounds, and the potential mechanism of key compounds on the main therapeutic targets was verified. RESULTS: Totally 76 effective compounds of YSQTG were found, as well as 309 related targets, and 102 drug and disease interaction targets. The drug-compound-target network of YSQTG was constructed, suggesting that quercetin, luteolin, wogonin, kaempferol and baicalein may be the most important compounds, while quercetin had higher degree value and degree centrality, which might be the key compound in YSQTG. The HPLC-MS results also showed the stable presence of quercetin in YSQTG. By establishing a protein interaction network, the main therapeutic targets of YSQTG in treating esophageal cancer were Jun proto-oncogene, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor, and RELA proto-oncogene. The results of cell function experiments in vitro showed that quercetin could inhibit proliferation, invasion, and clonal formation of esophageal carcinoma cells. Quercetin mainly affected the biological processes of esophageal cancer cells, such as proliferation, cell cycle, and cell metastasis. A total of 357 quercetin interacting proteins were screened, and 531 genes were significantly changed. Further pathway enrichment analysis showed that quercetin mainly affects the metabolic pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, and nuclear factor kappa B (NF- κ B) signaling pathway, etc. Quercetin, the key compound of YSQTG, had stronger binding activity by molecular docking. Pull-down assay confirmed that NF- κ B was a quercetin-specific interaction protein, and quercetin could significantly reduce the protein level of NF- κ B, the main therapeutic target. CONCLUSION YSQTG can be multi-component, multi-target, multi-channel treatment of esophageal cancer, it is a potential drug for the treatment of esophageal cancer.
Humans ; Network Pharmacology ; Quercetin ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal

The potential quality markers(Q-markers) of Polygoni Perfoliati Herba were studied based on analytic hierarchy process(AHP)-entropy weight method(EWM), network pharmacology, and spectrum-effect relationship analysis. The AHP-EWM was used for quantitative identification of the Q-markers. To be specific, AHP was applied for the weight analysis of the validity, testability, and specificity of the first-level indexes, and EWM for the analysis of the second-level indexes supported by literature and experimental data. Based on literature and network pharmacology, the validity analysis was to study the component-target-disease-efficacy network, and select the components with the strongest correlation with the efficacy of clearing heat and removing toxin, diuresis and alleviating edema, and relieving cough. For the testability analysis, the high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and literature research were used to determine the 10 components in Polygoni Perfoliati Herba, and the fingerprints of Polygoni Perfoliati Herba were established at the same time. The specificity analysis was based on the statistics of the number of plants in which the components existed. Thereby, the 11 compounds: quercetin, oleanolic acid, ellagic acid, gallic acid, kaempferol, rutin, esculetin, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, ursolic acid, protocatechuic acid, and ferulic acid, were identified as potential Q-markers. The 11 compounds were identified to have high anti-inflammatory activity, indicating that the 11 Q-markers may be the functional material basis. The result in this study is expected to serve as a reference for the quality control of Polygoni Perfoliati Herba.
Analytic Hierarchy Process ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Entropy ; Quercetin