Dear Editor,
Quercetin is an important flavonol among the members of six subclasses of flavonoid
compounds. The name quercetin was derived from quercetum (after Quercus, i.e., oak),
and has been used since 1857 (Fischer et al., 1997[21]). It has been named as 3,3′,4′,5,7-pentahydroxyflavone
by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). It is also known
by its synonym 3,3′,4′,5,7-pentahydroxy-2-phenylchromen-4-one (Li et al., 2016[33]).
Quercetin is the most widely distributed and extensively studied flavonoid found in
various food sources, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, wine, and seeds (Oboh et
al., 2016[44]). Quercetin has various biological properties, including antioxidant,
anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, radical-scavenging, gastroprotective,
and immune-modulatory activities (Anand David et al., 2016[6]; Massi et al., 2017[39]).
In addition, in several recently-filed patents the wide therapeutic applications of
quercetin and its derivatives have been described in detail (Chen et al., 2016[15];
Eid and Haddad, 2017[19]; Sharma et al., 2018[50]).
Quercetin exhibits a wide range of biological activities and therapeutic applications,
which are of interest to the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries (Biler
et al., 2017[10]). Here, we summarize the recent studies that have evaluated the biological
and pharmacological activities of quercetin (Table 1(Tab. 1); References in Table
1: Abdelhalim et al., 2018[1]; Afifi et al., 2018[2]; Aghapour et al., 2018[3]; Ahmed
et al., 2018[4]; Al-Asmari et al., 2018[5]; Ansar et al., 2016[7]; Atef et al., 2017[8];
Beghoul et al., 2017[9]; Calgarotto et al., 2018[11]; Chan et al., 2018[12]; Chang
et al., 2017[13]; Chen et al., 2017[14]; Damiano et al., 2018[16]; Dong et al., 2017[17];
Duranti et al., 2018[18]; Esrefoglu et al., 2017[20]; Funakoshi et al., 2017[22];
Guo et al., 2017[23]; He et al., 2016[24]; Huang et al., 2017[25]; Jeon et al., 2017[26];
Ji et al., 2017[27]; Ju et al., 2018[28]; Kee et al., 2016[29]; Lan et al., 2017[30];
Lazo-Gomez and Tapia, 2017[31]; Li et al., 2018[32]; Liu and Zhou, 2017[34]; Liu et
al., 2017[35]; Lu et al., 2018[36]; Maciel et al., 2016[37]; Maksymchuk et al., 2017[38];
Mitani et al., 2017[40]; Mkhize et al., 2017[41]; Naseer et al., 2017[42]; Pandya
et al., 2017[45]; Patrizio et al., 2018[46]; Qin et al., 2017[47]; Ren et al., 2018[48];
Sameni et al., 2018[49]; Singh et al., 2018[51]; Sohn et al., 2018[52]; Tinay et al.,
2017[53]; Veith et al., 2017[54]; Wu et al., 2018[55]; Xingyu et al., 2016[56]; Yang
et al., 2017[57]; Yang et al., 2018[58]; Yarahmadi et al., 2017[60]; Yarahmadi et
al., 2018[59]; Yazıcı et al., 2018[61]; Yuan et al., 2016[63]; Yuan et al., 2018[62];
Zhang et al., 2018[64]; Zhao et al., 2017[65]; Zhu et al., 2018[66]).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (SSAC,
Project #. PJ013328)" Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.