Oral administration of flavonoids is suggested to have an effects on arterial blood pressure. However, the biovailability of nonmetabolized flavonoids is low, thus this study was aimed at testing of effects of quercetin metabolites on vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and blood pressure in vivo.
Several metabolites relaxed isolated rat aorta. The most active of them, 3-(-3-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid was also tested in vivo on rats and these experiments confirmed in vitro results.