NTU Undergraduates' research April 2014 - Biosciences | Page 135

RESEARCH PAPER

Effect of quercetin
on H9c2 cell viability

keywords
quercetin; H9c2 cell line;
oxidative stress;
cardioprotection

Beatriz Aguilar Bravo
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Flavonoids are a wide group of polyphenolic compounds present in human diet, being quercetin
one of the most important. Many biological activities have been attributed to this flavonoid,
however the most known and studied has been its strong antioxidant activity. Through this
characteristic, quercetin has been reported to play an important role in protection against
oxidative stress induced by ROS such as H 2 O 2 in H9c2 cell line, derived from embryonic rat
heart tissue. However, despite of its beneficial effects, cytotoxicity induced by quercetin has
been also found in some cases.
EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

H9c2 cells as well H9c2 differentiated cells were treated with various concentrations of
quercetin and during different incubation times in order to analyse cell viability.
In addition, cells were also pre-treated with quercetin prior to the addition of H 2 O 2 in order to
test if quercetin exerted cardiopr