Dan Chen, Shuangyan Yang*, Jie Ding and Ailing Liu Pages 425 - 432 ( 8 )
<p>Background: Preeclampsia is a disorder of hypertension and proteinuria accompanied by abnormal inflammatory responses. Both aspirin and quercetin possess anti-inflammatory and anti-hypertensive properties. A low dose of aspirin is recommended for the prevention of preeclampsia in patients with preeclampsia history. Whether quercetin can enhance the effect of aspirin on preeclampsia remains elusive. <p> Methods: Female Sprague-Dawley pregnant rats were treated with daily administration of aspirin, quercetin, or a combination of aspirin and quercetin and subsequently received lipopolysaccharides (LPS) injection to induce preeclampsia-like symptoms. The systolic blood pressure and proteinuria from all groups of rats were assessed. <p> Results: Our results demonstrated that the combination of quercetin and aspirin exerted significantly stronger effects than aspirin alone on decreasing systolic blood pressure and proteinuria, reducing pro-inflammatory cytokine production, and inhibiting M1-type decidual macrophages polarization in an LPS-induced rat model of preeclampsia. <p> Conclusion: This study suggested that quercetin may serve as an excellent supplement to aspirin in preventing or treating patients with preeclampsia.</p>
Preeclampsia, aspirin, quercetin, lipopolysaccharides, macrophages, pathogenesis.