Quercetin, also known as oak sperm, is a widely distributed flavonol compound with a variety of biological activities in the plant world, with the chemical formula C15H10O7.
Quercetin is widely present in the stem bark, flowers, leaves, buds, seeds and fruits of many plants, mostly in the form of glycosides, such as rutin, quercetin and chrysoside, etc. Quercetin can be obtained by acid hydrolysis. Among them, the high content in the stems and leaves of buckwheat, sea buckthorn, hawthorn, onion. Quercetin is also found in many foods, such as onions, shallots, asparagus, cabbage, mustard, green peppers, chicory, grapefruit, lettuce, hawthorn, apples, mangoes, plums, radishes, blackcurrants, potatoes and spinach. In addition, about 100 kinds of medicinal plants (such as Sophora japonica, Phellodendron sylvestris, Galangal, Lobelia, Sambucus, Panax ginseng, Ginkgo, Elderberry, etc.) contain this ingredient.
Rutinoside (rutin) of quercetin is widely distributed in nature and has a high content, such as up to 20% or more in Sophora japonica rice. It is feasible to produce quercetin by extracting rutin from locust rice first and then acid hydrolysis to produce quercetin.
The extraction method of rutin mainly includes alkali extraction and acid precipitation method, organic solvent extraction method and maceration method, among which the alkali extraction and acid precipitation method is the most practical. Select 0.05% NaOH solution boiled for 20min, filtered while hot, extracted 4 times by the same method to get the alkaline aqueous solution of rutin, add acid to make it precipitate, filtered and then add acid to make it hydrolyze and get water-insoluble quercetin, filtered, washed and dried to get quercetin solid.
The enzymatic hydrolysis of rutin is used to prepare quercetin monomer with less content in plants in large quantities, which is simple and safe to operate, the whole process is economical and applicable, the yield is large and suitable for industrial production, and the product purity is >90%, which can meet the needs of food and clinical applications. Therefore, enzymatic conversion is undoubtedly a very promising preparation method.
Quercetin has antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic, anti-diabetic complications and other biological effects, which are important for the treatment and prevention of human tumors, aging, cardiovascular disease and other degenerative diseases.
Quercetin is a strong antioxidant in nature, its antioxidant capacity is 50 times that of vitamin E and 20 times that of vitamin C. Studies have shown that quercetin has good scavenging effect on superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen, and there is a significant dose-effect relationship.
Quercetin can reduce the release of inflammatory mediators by modulating NF-κB, inhibiting TNF-α production and gene expression as well as the expression of inflammatory mediator genes. The antioxidant effect of quercetin also contributes to reduce the inflammatory response.
The cardiovascular protective effect of quercetin is mainly reflected in five aspects:
Dilating blood vessels and lowering blood pressure: for example, quercetin can inhibit the release of endothelin and reduce the tension of blood vessels, thus lowering blood pressure.
Prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease: through animal experiments, the function of reducing the incidence of myocardial infarction and mortality, and lowering blood sugar was also found;
Reduce myocardial hypertrophy; quercetin can significantly inhibit the increase of total protein content of cardiomyocytes caused by angiotensin II, can significantly improve SOD activity and reduce MDA content, and has obvious preventive and curative effects on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.
Inhibit the hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle cells; Anti-thrombosis.
Quercetin has a good expectorant, cough effect, and has a certain effect on asthma, long-term use in the treatment of chronic bronchitis. The effect of quercetin on respiratory health is achieved through various pathways such as mucus secretion, antiviral, anti-fibrotic, and anti-inflammatory.
Quercetin also has a broad range of anti-fibrotic effects, including anti-liver, lung, heart and kidney fibrosis, with a complex mechanism of action that includes inhibition of fibroblast proliferation, inhibition of collagen synthesis, blocking oxidative damage, and inhibition of angiogenesis.
Quercetin has broad-spectrum antibacterial properties and has stronger antibacterial effects on Gram-negative bacteria than Gram-positive bacteria.
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