Laboratory Animal and Comparative Medicine ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (4): 305-312.DOI: 10.12300/j.issn.1674-5817.2021.007

• Original Article: Animal Models of Human Diseases • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Protective Effect of Quercetin on Lipid Metabolism Disorder in Mice Livers Caused by Cadmium

LI Zifa1, ZHANG Hao1, REN Meng1, XU Kaiyong1, HU Minghui1, ZHOU Miaomiao1, WANG Kezhou2   

  1. 1. Laboratory Animal Center, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355 China;
    2. College of Laboratory Animal (Shandong Laboratory Animal Center), Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Jinan 250002, China
  • Received:2020-12-28 Revised:2021-05-20 Published:2021-08-30
  • Contact: WANG Kezhou, E-mail: wangkezhou_cn@163.com

Abstract: Objective To investigate the protective effect of quercetin on cadmium-mediated lipid metabolism disorder in livers of mice. Methods C57BL/6J mice were divided into four groups: a control group, a quercetin-treated group (quercetin by intragastrical administration), a cadmium-treated group (cadmium chloride by intragastrical administration), and a cadmium plus quercetin co-treated group (cadmium chloride plus quercetin by intragastrical administration). After the administration, mice weight was measured; the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in serum, and the contents of total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) in both serum and liver were determined; the pathological changes in liver tissues and liver droplets were observed by HE and Oil Red O staining; the expression levels of proteins related to lipogenesis, fatty acid synthase (FAS), and related to lipolysis, lipoprotein lipase (LPL), in liver were detected by Western blotting. Results Compared with the control group, the mice treated with cadmium showed that the weight was significantly decreased (P<0.01), the ALT and AST activities were remarkedly increased in serum (P<0.01), the pathological changes of liver injury were seen obviously, the TC and TG contents were remarkedly elevated in both serum and liver (P<0.01), lipid droplets were greatly accumulated (P<0.01), the FAS expression in liver was up-regulated (P<0.01), while the LPL expression was down-regulated (P<0.01). Quercetin intervention significantly alleviated the abnormal changes of the above indicators. Conclusion Quercetin can protect mice from cadmium-induced liver injury by regulating lipid metabolism disorder in liver.

Key words: Quercetin, Cadmium, Liver damage, Lipid metabolism, C57BL/6J mice

CLC Number: