Background: Quercetin (QE) is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, flavonoid compound. It was shown that islets are susceptible to oxidative stress due to their inherent low antioxidant capacity. In the present study, we investigated whether treatment of mouse islets with an antioxidant, QE could enhance their function before transplantation.
Methods: BALB/c mouse islets were treated with various concentrations of QE, their viability, function (SI) and the expression of HO-1 and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined before and after cytokines treatment. Nitric oxide (NO), inflammation and apoptosis-associated protein expression were measured with or without QE treatment.
Results: The QE-treated islets showed higher cell viability and function compared to untreated control, the expression of HO-1, SOD, and Bcl-2 were enhanced, and the expression NO, iNOS, BAX and ERK1/2 were reduced in a concentration-dependent manner before and after cytokines treatment.
Conclusions: Our results show that QE could enhance the viability of mouse islets and improve their function before transplantation.