Sahar Moghbelinejad; Ghazaleh Mohammadi; Fatemeh Khodabandehloo; Reza Najafipour; Taghi Naserpour; Zahra Rashvand; Marjan Nassiri-Asl
Volume 19, Issue 5 , May 2017, , Pages 1-5
Abstract
Background: Flavonoids are recently being recognized for their important biological effects. Quercetin is a flavonoid that has several pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anticonvulsant effects.Objectives: This study was designed to elucidate the role of quercetin ...
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Background: Flavonoids are recently being recognized for their important biological effects. Quercetin is a flavonoid that has several pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anticonvulsant effects.Objectives: This study was designed to elucidate the role of quercetin in the gene expression of ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits in kainic acid (KA)-induced seizure in mice.Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 56 male BALB/c mice. Quercetin (50 and 100 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) was administered 7 days before administration of KA. The hippocampi of the animals were removed and used for molecular analysis 2 hours and 7 days after KA administration.Results: Pretreatment of mice with quercetin (100 mg/kg) significantly enhanced the gene expression of GluR1 subunit of AMPA and NR2A and NR2B subunits of NMDA only 7 days after KA administration compared to the control and KA groups in the mice hippocampus (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.05, respectively).Conclusions: Increment of gene expression of subunits of AMPA and NMDA receptors by quercetin might explain its protective effect on synaptic plasticity and memory.
