Chronic administration of quercetin induces biomechanical and pharmacological remodeling in the rat coronary arteries.

Acute dilation brought about by the dietary flavonoid quercetin in coronary arterioles has been described earlier, but no information is available on its chronic effects. Male Wistar rats (body weight about 190 g) were divided to two groups: the quercetin-treated group (n=22) had quercetin supplementation of approximately 30 mg/kg/day, whereas the control group (n=20) had none. After eight weeks of treatment, intramural coronary arterioles with identical passive diameters (178+/-14 microm and 171+/-9 microm) were prepared and their biomechanics and pharmacological reactivities were tested using pressure arteriography ex vivo. The spontaneous tone of quercetin-treated arteries was higher (16.5+/-1.9 % vs. 12.9+/-0.9 %), which resulted in a reduced lumen size (144+/-9 microm vs. 167+/-12 microm), thicker vascular wall (22.6+/-1.8 microm vs. 17.4+/-1.6 microm) and decreased tangential wall stress (16.8+/-1.1 kPa vs. 20.5+/-1.6 kPa) in supplemented animals (in spontaneous tone at 50 mm Hg, p<0.01 in all these comparisons). Elevated basal NO release resulted in increased endothelial dilation in quercetin-treated animals, especially at higher intraluminal pressures (10.8+/-2.5 % vs. 5.7+/-1.3 % at 70 mm Hg, p<0.01). We found remodeling of the geometry of coronary arterioles to ensure higher dilatory reserve and nitrogen monoxide production, as well as lowered elastic stress of the vessel wall.