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The toxic liver impairment caused by free radical injury or excessive reactive oxigen species (ROS) formation could be effectivelly attenuated by natural antioxidants. The present study aimed to explore and compare the hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects of free and encapsulated quercetin in in vitro and in vivo models of hepatotoxicity. Thus, quercetin was encapsulated in chitosan/alginate nanoparticles by gelation method. Both empty and quercetin-loaded nanoparticles revealed good safety profile in vitro, determined by the lack of cytotoxicity in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. The pretreatment of HepG2 cells with encapsulated quercetin (10 μg/ml) significantly attenuated the decrease in cell viability in H₂О₂-induced oxidative stress (0.1 mM H₂О₂)_, thus showing an effective in vitro protection.

In vivo evaluation of the antioxidant and hepatoprotective potential of free and encapsulated quercetin was …