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Quercetin increases the antioxidant capacity of the ovary in menopausal rats and in ovarian granulosa cell culture in vitro

Jiao Wang, Xin Qian, Q. Gao, Chunmei Lv, Jie Xu, Hongbo Jin, Hui Zhu

Journal of Ovarian Research, 2018

102 citations

Abstract

BackgroundMenopause is the most important sign of aging in women, and the ovary is the organ most sensitive to aging. Quercetin is a potential antioxidant and free radical scavenger that is widely found in fruits, vegetables, and leaves. However, the effect of quercetin on ovarian aging has not been elucidated, and the mechanism underlying its antioxidative effect remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether quercetin protects ovarian function by decreasing oxidative stress.MethodsIn an in vivo experiment, female menopausal rats (12 months old) were intragastrically administered quercetin at three doses (12.5 mg/kg, 25 mg/kg, and 50 mg/kg) for 90 days, and the estrous cycles were determined by vaginal smearing. In an in vitro experiment, rat primary ovarian granulosa cells were cultured and treated with H2O2 (400 μM) alone or H2O2 plus quercetin at 5 μM, 20 μM, or 50 μM. The levels of the hormones estradiol (E2), progesterone (P), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were detected by radioimmunoassay. The serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were examined. The expression levels of the oxidative stress-related genes SOD-1, catalase (CAT) and glutathione synthetase (GSS) in the ovaries and ovarian granulosa cells were detected by Western blot.ResultsThe in vivo results demonstrated that…

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