Quercetin improved muscle contractility and reduced muscle damage markers in a rat model of simvastatin-induced myopathy.

In adult male rats given simvastatin for 30 days, oral quercetin at 50 mg/kg daily reduced serum creatine kinase and oxidative stress while improving gastrocnemius muscle contractility. The treatment also lowered apoptosis markers BAX and caspase-3 and partially normalized autophagy-related gene expression, with increased LC3 and decreased LAMP2 reversed. These changes suggest quercetin may help protect muscle during statin use, though the findings are from an animal study and autophagic flux still needs protein-level confirmation.