Differences were considered significant at P <0.05. Results All mice completed the study, tolerated the supplemented

quercetin amount; there was no differences in the amount of consumed food between the groups or the physical appearance of the mice as a result of the quercetin intake. There was, however, a significant reduction in body weight in the EQ mice after 30 days of treatment compared to baseline (data not shown). The weight reduction appears to have resulted from the combination of the exercise and quercetin intake; however the mechanism for this weight loss is not very clear. selleck kinase inhibitor Atherosclerotic lesion Atherosclerotic plaque formation in selected mice from all groups is shown in Figure 1A. The average lesion areas for the groups were: 56.04 mm2, 11.84 mm2, 19.95 mm2 and 16.63 mm2

buy PD0332991 for NN, EN, NQ, and EQ respectively, revealing a decrease of 79% (P < 0.01); 64% (P < 0.05) and 70% (P < 0.05) between each group, respectively, and the NN (Figure 1B). Figure 1 Effect of quercetin and exercise on atherosclerotic lesion development. A: Images of the atherosclerotic lesions in aortas. Atherosclerotic lesions in aortas of LDLr−/−mice Tariquidar fed a high-fat diet. NN: Control group; mice on atherogenic diet without quercetin and exercise treatment; EN: Mice on atherogenic diet and exercise without quercetin supplementation; NQ: Mice on atherogenic diet and quercetin supplementation; EQ: Mice on atherogenic diet, exercise and quercetin supplementation. Massive formation of atherosclerotic plaque can be seen on control and relatively less lesion formation on the other groups. B: Lesions areas dot plot representation in the 4 groups. EN: Mice on atherogenic diet and exercise without quercetin intake NQ: Mice on atherogenic diet and quercetin BCKDHB intake. EQ: Mice on atherogenic diet and exercise and quercetin intake.

Compared to NN mice; the aorta lesion areas in EN, NQ and EQ showed significant decreases of 79%, 64% and 70% respectively (P < 0.05). Plasma cytokines The plasma concentrations of IL-17, MCP-1 and TNF-α measured by ELISA are shown in (Figure 2A,B and C). The average plasma concentrations for TNF-α were: 473.1 pg/mL, 534.4 pg/mL, 534 pg/mL and 502.3 pg/mL for the NN EN, NQ, and EQ groups respectively, depicting a significant increase (P < 0.05) in TNF-α level among the EN and NQ groups compared to the NN group. Figure 2 Effect of quercetin intake and exercise on selected plasma biomarkers. Plasma levels of TNF-α, MCP-1 and IL-17α. The figure shows average plasma levels of TNF-α (A), MCP-1 (B) and IL-17 (C) . TNF-α levels significantly increased in the EN and NQ mice compared to NN group. However no significant changes were noticed between the groups MCP-1 and IL-17 levels. On the other hand, plasma MCP-1 concentrations decreased among the EQ, EN, and NQ groups compared to the NN. The greatest decrease was observed in the EQ group (54.7%). The average plasma levels were: 2529.37 pg/mL, 2021.81 pg/mL, 1996.