Absence of initiating activity by quercetin in the rat liver

Initiating activity of quercetin was tested in rats which were treated with partial hepatectomy and given a liver cancer promoter, phenobarbital. A few intestinal neoplasms were seen but without significant difference in incidence from those in the quercetin-untreated group. Moreover, neither neoplastic nor preneoplastic liver changes were detected in quercetin-treated groups. With hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair test, quercetin did not produce genotoxicity. The results show that quercetin has no initiating or genotoxic activities in the rat liver.