Anti-Oxidative and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of QGC in Cultured Feline Esophageal Epithelial Cells

Quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranoside (QGC) is a flavonoid glucoside extracted from Rumex Aquaticus Herba. In the present study, anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of QGC were tested in vitro. Epithelial cells obtained from cat esophagus were cultured. When the cells were exposed to acid for 2 h, cell viability was decreased to 36%. Pretreatment with 50 µM QGC for 2 h prevented the reduction in cell viability. QGC also inhibited the productions of intracellular ROS by inflammatory inducers such as acid, lipopolysaccharide, indomethacin and ethanol. QGC significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, and also induced the expression of SOD2, while it restored the decrease of catalase expression in cells exposed to acid. QGC inhibited NF-κB translocation, cyclooxygenase-2 expression and PGE(2) secretion in cells exposed to acid, which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of esophagitis. The data suggest that QGC may well be one of the promising substances to attenuate oxidative epithelial cell injury and inflammatory signaling in esophagus inflammation.