By Ciara Donnangelo, James Solis, Chris Anderson

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sipe

Abstract

Chronic inflammation plays a key role in the development and proliferation of several metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as increasing the risk of several types of cancers. It is directly linked to being the cause of cardiovascular disease, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide each year. Quercetin, a natural flavone commonly found in a broad range of plants, has an extensive range of potential health benefits, including but not limited to treatment of chronic inflammatory disorders. The aim of our research was to examine the inflammatory response of Raw 264.7 macrophages when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the impacts quercetin may have in reducing the inflammatory response. The 264.7 macrophage cell line was used with LPS as a pro-inflammatory to determine cell viability and nitric oxide release using concentrations of 30 uM, 60 uM and 120 uM. Quercetin shows no effect on cell viability until higher concentrations at 120 uM, in which it is shown to show mild cytotoxicity. Quercetin showed a reduction of nitric oxide release when stimulated with LPS, demonstrating potential as an anti-inflammatory. The phagocytosis assay was then used to determine how quercetin affected the phagocytic ability of RAW macrophages. Our research showed that quercetin does have an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting LPS stimulated nitric oxide (NO) release in Raw 264.7 macrophages. Further research will be required to investigate what inflammatory pathway quercetin inhibits.