Objective To investigate the protective effects and possible mechanism of quercetin on alcoholic liver injury in mice. Methods Forty-eight mice were randomly divided into six groups: normal control group（NC）, alcoholic liver injury group （ALI）, glutathione group（GSH）、low dosage quercetin group（Que-L）, middle dosage quercetin group（Que-M）and high dosage quercetin group（Que-H）, with eight mice in each group. Mice in the intervention groups were given intragastric administration （12.5 ml/kg） for 14 consecutive days, while the NC group and ALI group were given the same volume of saline intragastrically. Then mice received 52% vol Heng Shui Liquor (12.5 ml/kg) intragastrically for three consecutive times, once a day, to induce acute alcoholic liver injury except for the NC group which was treated the same as the previous 14 days. After the last treatment, mice in each group were weighed, serum and liver samples were obtained. The serum levels of ALT and AST were detected using microplate method. The levels of LDH in hepatic tissue were detected by ELISA while the levels of MDA in hepatic tissue were detectded by TBA method. The pathological changes in the liver were observed by light microscope after HE staining. The expressions of pyroptosis-related proteins NLRP3、Caspase-1、Caspase-11 and IL-1β were detected using Western blot. Results Compared with the NC group, serum ALT, AST and hepatic LDH, MDA levels of the ALI group were significantly increased. The pyroptosis-related proteins NLRP3, Caspase-1, Caspase-11 and IL-1β expressions were significantly increased（P＜0.01）.The histopathological injury of the liver was obvious. Compared to the ALI group, serum of ALT, AST and hepatic LDH, MDA in the intervention groups were significantly decreased while the expressions of pyroptosis-related proteins NLRP3、Caspase-1、Caspase-11 and IL-1β were significantly decreased（P＜0.05－0.01）. The histopathological injury of the liver was also improvesd. Conclusion Quercetin has a protective effect on alcoholic liver injury possibly by downregulating the expression of proteins related to the pyroptosis pathway.
Key words
quercetin /
alcoholic liver injury /
pyroptosis /
NLRP3
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