Accelerating effects of quercetin on the TNF-α-induced apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells

Bioflavone quercetin is believed to play an important role preventing bone loss by affecting osteoclastogenesis and regulating many systemic and local factors including hormones and cytokines. This study examined how quercetin acts on tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)-mediated apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells. Apoptosis assays revealed the dose-dependent acceleration of quercetin on TNF-α-induced apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 cells, which was demonstrated by the increased number of positively stained cells in the trypan blue staining and TUNEL assay, and the migration of many cells to the sub-G ₀/G₁ phase in flow cytometric analysis. In particular, quercetin treatment alone increased the expression of p53 and p21 proteins in the cells. Consequently, this study showed that quercetin accelerates the TNF-α-induced apoptosis in MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells.