The uptake behaviors of kaempferol and quercetin through rat primary cultured cortical neurons

The objective of this study was to investigate whether kaempferol and quercetin could be transported into primary cultured cerebral neurons, to establish a practical HPLC method with UV detection for the two flavonols in the neurons, and to study the uptake and transport behaviors of them through the neurons. The present results showed that the level of kaempferol in the neurons increased linearly and then reached a plateau with incubation time at the high concentration of 10 microg/mL, but not at the other two concentrations of 1 and 0.1 microg/mL. However, the levels of quercetin in the neurons were not detected at the three incubating concentrations, and there was a new peak detected in the cell whose retention time was shorter (3.42 min) than that of quercetin (4.65 min). This phenomenon suggested that quercetin might be transported into the neurons and then metabolized quickly to some derivative. Kaempferol could be transported into the neurons in a concentration- and time-dependent manner when the neurons were incubated with the culture medium containing kaempferol at the high dose. There was an apparent correlation between the concentrations of kaempferol in the medium and in the cell, indicating that the uptake of kaempferol in the cell increased along with its dose (10 microg/mL). However, there was a negative correlation between the concentrations of quercetin in the medium and in the cell. The results suggested that kaempferol and quercetin were disposed by the neurons at different way, and this might be an important factor for their different effects on primary cultured cortical cells.