ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pharmacology
Quercetin Attenuates Acute Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in Mice by Modulating Lipid Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation
Provisionally accepted
- Jilin Ruiguo Technology Co., LTD, Changchun, China
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Background: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) remains a major global health burden, and effective therapeutic options are limited. Quercetin, a dietary flavonoid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, has shown hepatoprotective potential, but its mechanisms in acute alcohol-induced liver injury require clarification. Methods: Fifty male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into five groups (n = 10/group): control (CG), model (MG), low-dose quercetin (LQ, 50 mg/kg), high-dose quercetin (HQ, 100 mg/kg), and oyster soybean carnitine (OG, 20 mg/kg). All treatments were administered orally once daily for 14 days. Acute alcohol injury was induced on Day 14 using 52% (v/v) ethanol. Behavioral intoxication indices, serum biochemistry, liver oxidative stress markers, inflammatory cytokines, histopathology, lipid accumulation, and the expression of lipid-metabolism-related genes and proteins (FAS, SCD1, ACC1, CPT1, PGC-1α, PPARα) were assessed. Results: HQ significantly prolonged alcohol tolerance time (P < 0.01) and shortened sober-up time (P < 0.01). HQ markedly reduced serum AST , ALT, TG, FFA, and glycerol levels (P < 0.01). Quercetin also lowered hepatic TG, TNF-α, and IL-6 and increased SOD, GSH, and CAT activities. Histological and Oil Red O staining confirmed reduced steatosis. Mechanistically, quercetin downregulated hepatic FAS, SCD1, and ACC1 while upregulating CPT1, PGC-1α, and PPARα at both mRNA and protein levels. Conclusions: Quercetin exerts hepatoprotective effects against acute alcohol-induced liver injury through coordinated regulation of lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammatory responses.The study did not include a quercetin-only group or measure blood ethanol levels, which should be addressed in future work.These findings support the potential of quercetin as a natural candidate for preventing alcohol-related hepatic injury.
Keywords: Acute Ethanol Injury, Alcoholic liver disease (ALD), Inflammation, Lipid Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, Quercetin
Received: 10 Sep 2025; Accepted: 05 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Qian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuanyuan Qian
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