1Division of Food and Nutrition, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea
2Department of Medical Nutrition, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, South Korea
Journal of Food and Nutrition Research.
2018,
Vol. 6 No. 8, 518-524
DOI: 10.12691/jfnr-6-8-6
Copyright © 2018 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Jeongjin Park, Woojin Jun, Jeongmin Lee, Ok-Kyung Kim. Defensive Effect of Quercetin against Tumor Necrosis Factor α-induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Hepatic Insulin Resistance in HepG2 Cells.
Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2018; 6(8):518-524. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-6-8-6.
Correspondence to: Ok-Kyung Kim, Division of Food and Nutrition, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea. Email:
jlee2007@khu.ac.kr, okkyung85@gmail.comAbstract
In order to examine the hypothesis that the treatment of TNF-α can impose inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in hepatic cells, and that quercetin has a defensive effect against TNF-α-induced ER stress and insulin resistance, we evaluated the effect of quercetin (3 µg/mL and 5 µg/mL) in the TNF-α-induced HepG2 cells. The TNF-α-stimulated control group caused a marked increase in the activation of inflammation and ER stress response. Quercetin, however, caused the interruption of TNF-α-induced inflammation and ER stress. In addition, the treatment of quercetin resulted in significant decreases in serine phosphorylation of IRS-1, phosphorylation of JNK, and the expression of gluconeogenic genes compared with the TNF-α-stimulated control group. In conclusion, we suggest that quercetin can protect hepatic insulin resistance by exerting a protective effect against the ER stress and inflammation induced by TNF-α.
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