[Study on the absorption of quercetin and rutin at different segments of intestine].

The absorption of quercetin and rutin at different segments of intestine was examined. Seventy two Wistar rats were divided randomly into 3 groups (control group, quercetin group and rutin group), each group was divided into 4 subgroups (duodenum group, jejunum group, ileum group and colon group). Different solutions (1% dimethyl sulfoxide, 20 mumol/L of quercetin and rutin) were perfused respectively. At the end of perfusion, effluent solution samples were analyzed with HPLC. The results showed that both quercetin and rutin could be absorbed at different segments of intestine, but the absorption of rutin was significantly lower than quercetin. On the length basis, the absorption rate of quercetin was colon > ileum > duodenum > jejunum. On the area basis, the absorption rate was ileum > jejunum > duodenum > colon. After the perfusion of quercetin, there were unidentified peaks appearing on HPLC chromatogram. The results suggested that quercetin was derived from intestine and then re-excreted into intestinal lumen.