Preventive and therapeutic effects of quercetin on experimental radiation induced lung injury in mice.

Objective: To investigate the protective effect of quercetin on radiation induced lung injury (RILI) and related mechanisms.
Materials and Methods: Mice treated with radiation and/or quercetin were sacrificed at 1-8 weeks after irradiation under anesthesia. Lung tissues were collected for histological examination. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blotting were performed to detect the protein expression of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway.
Results: Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining showed that radiation controls displayed more severe lung damage than quercetin groups, either high or low dose. Results of IHC and Western blotting demonstrated the expression level of NF-κB to be decreased and that of an inhibitor of NF-κB (Iκb-α) to be increased by the quercetin intervention compared with the radiation control group. Numbers of JNK/SAPK, p38 and p44/p42 positive inflammatory cells were decreased in the radiation+quercetin injection group (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Quercetin may play a radio-protective role in mice lung via suppression of NF-κB and MAPK pathways.