Enhancing effect of the coexisting alpha-tocopherol on quercetin absorption and metabolism

The aim of this study is to investigate the modulating effect of coexisting food components on the absorption and metabolism of quercetin and blood plasma antioxidant potentials. The combination of quercetin with alpha-tocopherol (alpha T), cellulose, or a commercially available vegetable beverage containing alpha T and dietary fiber was orally administered to mice. Compared to the single administration of quercetin aglycone, the coadministration of alpha T with quercetin significantly increased the plasma quercetin concentration at 0.5 h, whereas the combination of quercetin and cellulose decreased it. Interestingly, the administration of quercetin mixed with the vegetable beverage showed no significant change in the quercetin concentration in the mice plasma. The treatment of the cells with the blood plasma after the coadministration of alpha T with quercetin significantly upregulated the gene expression of the antioxidant enzyme (heme oxygenase-1), whereas the quercetin and cellulose combination did not. In the plasma of the quercetin-administered mice, eight types of quercetin metabolites were detected, and their quantities were affected by the combination with alpha T. The potentials of the heme oxygenase-1 gene expression by these metabolites were very limited, although several metabolites showed radical scavenging activities comparable to aglycone in the in vitro assays. These results suggested that the combination of alpha T potentiates the quercetin absorption and metabolism and thus the plasma antioxidant potentials, at least in part, by the quantitative changes in the quercetin metabolites.