Effect of quercetin on acute appendicitis by reduction of Caspase-1 and inflammatory factors release through Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa-B pathway

Abstract

It has been reported that, quercetin can improve body’s inflammatory response through Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa-B (TLR4/NF-κB) signaling, thereby playing a role in treating acute appendicitis. Firstly, acute appendicitis model was established in rats, where blank group, acute appendicitis model group, and quercetin intervention group (quercetin group) were set up to detect the effect of quercetin on acute appendicitis. In addition, the model, Toll-like receptor 4 inhibitor (TAK-242), Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), quercetin+ TAK-242, and quercetin+LPS groups were set to assess whether quercetin reduces Caspase-1 (CASP-1) through TLR4/NF-KB signaling and regulates the release of inflammatory factors to exert the effect on treating acute appendicitis. (1) Quercetin significantly inhibited the biological effects of tissue inflammation in rats with appendicitis and this process was related to decreased expression of TLR4 and NF-κB; (2) Quercetin also inhibited TLR4 and NF-κB expression and after using TLR4 inhibitors, the release of inflammatory factors in rat appendix tissue was controlled, especially in the quercetin+TAK-242 group. Quercetin can significantly block the development of inflammatory response in acute appendicitis, and this process is mainly achieved by reducing inflammatory factors. In addition, quercetin can effectively inhibit TLR4/NF-κB signaling related to anti-inflammatory effect, thereby down-regulating the expression of CASP-1, and finally inhibiting the inflammatory response of acute appendicitis.