To investigate the antagonistic effect of quercetin on bone marrow-derived foam cell pyroptosis, and to study the anti-atherosclerosis effect and mechanism of quercetin from the perspective of anti-pyroptosis.

In animal experiments, quercetin gavage atherosclerosis model mice were grouped, and the effect of quercetin on atherosclerotic lesions in mice was detected by oil red O staining, and the expression of pyroptosis-related proteins in atherosclerotic tissues was also detected by Western blotting. In cell experiments, primary mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were cultured, ox-LDL was used to induce the formation of foam cells, cell viability assay to detect the optimal concentration of quercetin on mouse bone marrow-derived foam cells, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect the amount of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the medium, flow cytometry to detect the amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells, and the expression of pyroptosis-related protein in mouse bone marrow-derived foam cells was detected by Western blotting.

After high-concentration quercetin intervention, the atherosclerosis of the arterial sinus stained with oil red O was reduced, the pyroptosis-related protein and the amount of nitric oxide (NO) in atherosclerotic lesions were down-regulated. The amount of LDH in the medium decreased after quercetin was applied to mouse bone marrow-derived foam cells, and Western blotting showed that pyroptosis-related proteins were down-regulated.

Quercetin may down-regulate the expression of NLRP3 by inhibiting ROS production, thereby inhibiting pyroptosis of foam cells and improving atherosclerosis.