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Review
. 2021 Apr 16;13(4):1318.
doi: 10.3390/nu13041318.

The Potential Neuroprotective Role of Free and Encapsulated Quercetin Mediated by miRNA against Neurological Diseases

Tarek Benameur  1 , Raffaella Soleti  2 , Chiara Porro  3
Affiliations
Review

The Potential Neuroprotective Role of Free and Encapsulated Quercetin Mediated by miRNA against Neurological Diseases

Tarek Benameur et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Chronic neuroinflammation is a pathological condition of numerous central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and many others. Neuroinflammation is characterized by the microglia activation and concomitant production of pro-inflammatory cytokines leading to an increasing neuronal cell death. The decreased neuroinflammation could be obtained by using natural compounds, including flavonoids known to modulate the inflammatory responses. Among flavonoids, quercetin possess multiple pharmacological applications including anti-inflammatory, antitumoral, antiapoptotic and anti-thrombotic activities, widely demonstrated in both in vitro and in vivo studies. In this review, we describe the recent findings about the neuroprotective action of quercetin by acting with different mechanisms on the microglial cells of CNS. The ability of quercetin to influence microRNA expression represents an interesting skill in the regulation of inflammation, differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and immune responses. Moreover, in order to enhance quercetin bioavailability and capacity to target the brain, we discuss an innovative drug delivery system. In summary, this review highlighted an important application of quercetin in the modulation of neuroinflammation and prevention of neurological disorders.

Keywords: antioxidant; miRNA; microglial cells; nanodrug; natural flavonoid; neurodegenerative diseases; neuroinflammation; neuroprotection; quercetin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Protective effects of quercetin through modulating microbiota and reactive oxygen species levels to prevent neurological disorders. Quercetin exerts its indirect neuroprotective effect through microbiota involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) pathways suppression in diabetic peripheral neuropathy rats. It regulates cytoprotective protein expression against ROS-induced oxidative stress and suppresses neuroinflammatory responses induced by ROS. Quercetin inhibited inflammatory responses in microglial cells and up-regulate heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) against endotoxic stress through MAPKs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Neuroprotective and antioxidant effects of quercetin mediated by miRNA against neurological disorders. Quercetin prevents the altered expression of a number of miRNAs induced by oxidative stress in neuronal cells and PD model. Quercetin regulates miRNAs expression potentially involved in AD progress and normalized the genes and miRNAs expression in the hippocampus of diabetic rats in an impaired learning model.
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