Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Protective effect of quercetin on bupivacaine-induced neurotoxicity via T-type calcium channel inhibition

Chao Jin¹, Huisheng Wu¹, Chaoliang Tang², Jianjuan Ke¹, Yanlin Wang¹

¹Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University; ²Department of Anesthesiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei PR, China.

For correspondence:- Yanlin Wang Email: yaalinwang@163.com

Received: 14 March 2017 Accepted: 17 July 2017 Published: 31 August 2017

Citation: Jin C, Wu H, Tang C, Ke J, Wang Y. Protective effect of quercetin on bupivacaine-induced neurotoxicity via T-type calcium channel inhibition. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(8):1827-1833 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i8.11

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the effect of quercetin on bupivacaine-induced neurotoxicity and to investigate the mechanisms involved.

Methods: Cultured SH-SY5Y cells were divided into five treatment groups: control group with no drug, bupivacaine treatment group, quercetin group, bupivacaine--quercetin combination treatment group, and bupivacaine-mibefradil combination treatment group. Cell morphology in each group was examined by microscopy while cell viability was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay after 24 h incubation. Cytosolic calcium ion concentration was determined by flow cytometry while Cav3.1 protein expression was evaluated by western blot.

Results: Quercetin (50 µM) significantly (p < 0.05) protected SH-SYS5 cells from bupivacaine-induced cell apoptosis and also significantly reduced intracellular calcium ion concentration (p < 0.01) by approximately 40 %. Cav3.1 protein expression was normalized following quercetin treatment.

Conclusion: These results show that quercetin reduces the neurotoxicity induced by bupivacaine, possibly through inhibition of T-type calcium channel. This finding implies a novel mechanism for neuro-protective effect of quercetin, and its potential for treating toxicity arising from the use of local anesthetic agents.

Keywords: Quercetin, Bupivacaine, Local anaesthetic, Neuroprotection, Neurotoxicity, T-type calcium channel