Quercetin Affects Erythropoiesis and Heart Mitochondrial Function in Mice

Figure 2

Effect of quercetin treatment on mice iron metabolism. (a) Plasma ferritin levels from quercetin-treated mice were measured by ELISA, as it was described in Section 2. Treatment with quercetin did not affect ferritin levels as compared with untreated mice. (b) Total Antioxidant Capacity was measured in plasma samples from quercetin-treated mice using TAC Oxyselect kit and results are expressed as “μM Copper Reducing Equivalents.” The value of the Copper Reducing Equivalents is directly proportional to the total antioxidant capacity. (c) Mice were treated for 15 days with quercetin and then ceruloplasmin plasma levels were measured by western blot. (d) Densitometry analysis of ceruloplasmin levels performed with the ImageJ software. Ceruloplasmin plasma levels of mice treated with quercetin significant decreased 57%, compared to untreated mice compared to control. Control mice, ; quercetin-treated mice, . Each bar (box charts) represents the mean ± SD, analyzed by two-sample -test (). Significant differences () were found between control and quercetin-treated mice. .

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