Real-time monitoring of oxidative injury of vascular endothelial cells and protective effect of quercetin using quartz crystal microbalance

The adhesion, spreading, and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cell line (HUVEC-C) cells, on a gold electrode were monitored using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements. The viscodensity effect caused by the normal action of the cells led to a decrease of the resonant frequency and increase of the motional resistance. The oxidative injury of HUVEC-C cells appeared immediately with the addition of H2O2, exhibiting the decline of cellular spreading area and cell coverage on the electrode surface and resulting in inverted QCM responses. The injured extent of the cells was found to be related to the content of H2O2. It is found that 0.05 mM quercetin added beforehand in the growth medium could remove completely the oxidative action of 1.0 mM H2O2. Quercetin with increased dosage still exerted a partial protective effect on HUVEC-C cells against oxidative injury induced by 2.5 mM H2O2. The microscope observations, electrochemical measurements, and MTT analysis validate the QCM assay results, indicating that quercetin is a valuable flavonoid anti-oxidant in the precaution and treatment for the oxidative injury of vascular endothelium.