Quercetin and ethanol attenuate the progression of atherosclerotic plaques with concomitant up regulation of paraoxonase1 (PON1) gene expression and PON1 activity in LDLR-/- mice.

Background: As moderate wine drinking is atheroprotective, it is clinically relevant to elucidate its possible mechanism/s of action/s. Our objective is to demonstrate the potential benefits of the wine components, quercetin and ethanol, on the development of aortic plaques with parallel changes in antiatherogenic factors.

Methods And Results: The effects of quercetin and ethanol on the development of aortic atherosclerotic lesions, liver PON1 gene expression, and serum PON1 activity were measured in LDLR(-/-) mice on an atherogenic diet for 4 and 8 weeks.

Quercetin up-regulates paraoxonase 1 gene expression with concomitant protection against LDL oxidation.

Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) protects the oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and is a major anti-atherosclerotic protein component of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Quercetin, a ubiquitous plant flavonoid, has been shown to have a number of bioactivities and may offer a variety of potential therapeutic uses. We explored the roles of quercetin in the regulation of PON1 expression, serum and liver activity and protective capacity of HDL against LDL oxidation in rats.

Dysregulation of tau phosphorylation is a hypothesized point of convergence in the pathogenesis of alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and schizophrenia with therapeutic implications.

Two members of the family of low-density lipoprotein receptors (i.e., very low-density lipoprotein [VLDL] receptor and apolipoprotein E [apoE] type 2 receptor) are expressed in brain, where they bind and transduce reelin, a secreted glycoprotein that shares structural analogies with extracellular matrix proteins.