Protective effects of quercetin-3-rhamnoglucoside (rutin) on ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat small intestine

Quercetin-3-rhamnoglucoside (rutin) has a wide spectrum of biochemical and pharmacological activities. Orally administered compounds are absorbed in the intestine. Although absorption of rutin from the jejunum of the rat was good, binding of rutin to the intestinal wall components may limit its absorption from the small intestine. The physiological importance of an orally administered compound depends on its interaction with target tissues. Since there is limited information on the importance of rutin in vivo, we focused on the protective effect of rutin on intestinal injury. The intestinal mucosa is extremely sensitive to reactive oxygen species. We used a rat mesenteric ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury model as a model of oxidative injury and investigated the antioxidant activities of rutin in vivo. We found that rutin, which has combined antioxidant activity from radical-scavenging, xanthine oxidase inhibition and chain-breaking effects, exhibits a protective effect on I/R injury in the rat small intestine.