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Flavonoid quercetin and its glucuronide and sulfate conjugates bind to 67-kDa laminin receptor and prevent neuronal cell death induced by serum starvation

Gopalakrishna R, Oh A, Hou L, Lee E, Aguilar J, Li A, Mack WJ

Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 2023

Abstract

Quercetin, a dietary flavonoid, has been shown to protect against various neurodegenerative diseases with mechanisms largely unknown. After oral administration, quercetin is rapidly conjugated, and the aglycone is not detectable in the plasma and brain. However, its glucuronide and sulfate conjugates are present only at low nanomolar concentrations in the brain. Since quercetin and its conjugates have limited antioxidant capability at low nanomolar concentrations, it is crucial to determine whether they induce neuroprotection by binding to high-affinity receptors. Previously we found that (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol from green tea, induces neuroprotection by binding to the 67-kDa laminin receptor (67LR). Therefore, in this study, we determined whether quercetin and its conjugates bind 67LR to induce neuroprotection and compared their ability with EGCG. Based on the quenching of intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of peptide G (residues 161-180 in 67LR), we found quercetin, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, and quercetin-3-O-sulfate bind to this peptide with a high affinity comparable to EGCG. Molecular docking using the crystal structure of 37-kDa laminin receptor precursor supported the high-affinity binding of all these ligands to the site corresponding to peptide G. A pretreatment with quercetin (1-1000 nM) did not effectively protect Neuroscreen-1 cells from death induced by serum starvation. Contrarily, a pretreatment with low concentrations (1-10 nM) of…

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