Effects of quercetin on the apoptosis in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells and pulmonary vascular remodeling in rat of pulmonary arterial hypertension

Objective To investigate the prevention and treatment effects of quercetin on pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH).MethodsForty male Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups with ten rats in each group: model group,quercetin-prevention group(P group),quercetin-treatment group(T group) and control group.The former three groups were made PAH by the induction of monocrotaline(MCT),the control group was given the same amount of saline.The model group and control group received saline 2 mL/d by gavage after the molding,the P group and T group received quercetin 100 mg/(kg·d)by gavage at the same time of molding or 20 ds after,and both for 20ds.The pulmonary arterial pressure(mPAP) of each groups was measured,Percentage of wall thickness(WT%) and Percentage of wall area(WA%) of pulmonary arterioles were evaluated;the expression of Bcl-2 in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle was observed by immunohistochemistry staining and western blot.ResultsCompared with the C group、P group and T group,The mPAP、 WT% 、WA% and Bcl-2% in MCT group increased significantly(P0.05).The expressions of Bcl-2 in MCT group also increased significantly(P0.05) than other groups.ConclusionsQuercetin has the role of prevention and treatment on the MCT-induced PAH in rats,its mechanism maybe due to reverse pulmonary vascular remodeling through down-regulation of Bcl-2 and promote apoptosis in smooth muscle cells.