Effect of apoE genotype and dietary quercetin on blood lipids and TNF-alpha levels in apoE3 and apoE4 targeted gene replacement mice

Christine Boesch-Saadatmandi, Siegfried Wolffram, Anne-Marie Minihane, Gerald Rimbach

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of dietary quercetin supplementation on blood lipids and TNF-alpha levels according to the apoE genotype in apoE3 and apoE4 targeted gene replacement mice. In a two-factorial design female apoE3 and apoE4 mice were fed semi-synthetic diets without (controls) and with quercetin (2 mg/g diet) for 6 weeks. Feeding the quercetin-supplemented diets significantly increased plasma levels of quercetin and isorhamnetin both in apoE3 and apoE4 mice. There was no significant effect of apoE genotype on plasma quercetin levels. ApoE3 and apoE4 transgenic mice exhibited similar plasma levels of apoE and cholesterol which were not significantly affected by dietary quercetin supplementation. In mice receiving the basal diet without quercetin supplementation, levels of TNF-alpha in whole blood stimulated ex vivo with lipopolysaccharide were higher in apoE3 as compared to apoE4 transgenic mice. Dietary quercetin significantly lowered levels of TNF-alpha by 44 % in apoE3 mice relative to apoE3 mice receiving the unsupplemented diets. In apoE4 mice a moderate (20 %) but not significant decrease in TNF-alpha levels in response to the quercetin supplementation was evident. Following quercetin supplementation TNF-alpha levels were similar between apoE3 and apoE4 transgenic mice. Current findings indicate that apoE3 mice are more responsive to the TNF-alpha lowering properties of dietary quercetin supplementation as compared to apoE4 animals.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1440-1443
Number of pages4
JournalBritish Journal of Nutrition
Volume101
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2009

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Apolipoprotein E3
  • Apolipoprotein E4
  • Cholesterol
  • Dietary Supplements
  • Female
  • Flavonols
  • Gene Targeting
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Lipids
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Quercetin
  • Transgenes
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Cite this