Chronic dietary intake of quercetin alleviates hepatic fat accumulation associated with consumption of a Western-style diet in C57/BL6J mice

To determine the effect of consumption of a quercetin-rich diet on obesity and dysregulated hepatic gene expression, C56BL/6J mice were fed for 20 weeks on control or a Western diet high in fat, cholesterol and sucrose, both with or without 0.05% quercetin. Chronic dietary intake of quercetin reduced body weight gain and visceral and liver fat accumulation, and improved hyperglyceamia, hyperinsulinaemia, dyslipidaemia in mice fed a Western-style diet. Feeding a Western-style diet altered expression of genes related to inflammatory responses, lipid metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation in C57BL/6J mice after 20 weeks. The results from exhaustive gene expression analysis showed that quercetin minimally influenced hepatic gene expression in mice fed the Western diet. The gene screening results (GSEA) were consistent with the notion that it did improve mitochondrial function to some extent. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that quercetin did influence important regulators of fat accumulation and metabolic disorders. Our results suggest that quercetin reduces fat accumulation presumably through decreasing oxidative stress and increasing PPARα expression, and the following improvement of gene expression related to steatosis in the liver. C56BL/6J mice were fed for 20 weeks on AIN93G (con) or a Western diet high in fat, cholesterol and sucrose, both with or without 0.05% quercetin for 20 weeks.