quercetin glycosides; (anti)mutagenicity; mice; cytotoxic activity; lymphoid cell proliferation; antibody formation

The in vitro (anti-)mutagenic potential of functional constituents increasingly used in food supplements quercetin-3-?-D-glucopyranoside (isoquercitrin), and quercetin-3-?-D-rutinoside (rutin) were compared with that of quercetin using the Ames test in Salmonella typhimurium His- strains TA100, TA98 and TA102. In mice, none of the flavonols (0.86 ?mol/day, 34 days) induced harmful effects on selected immune parameters. Rutin enhanced the renewal of the gut epithelium. In immunized animals, all compounds enhanced ex vivo B cell proliferation, quercetin stimulated lymphocyte basal proliferation and rutin supported T cells. No significant effect on the NK cytotoxic activity, IgM- and IgG-forming cells and the production of cytokines was found.