Compound Monograph

Hyperoside

Hyperoside is quercetin-3-O-galactoside — a flavonol glycoside and the pharmacopoeial flavonoid marker of St John's Wort, motherwort, hawthorn and calendula, and a major leaf flavonoid of Houttuynia and juniper. It has a broad isolated-compound preclinical literature (liver, brain, heart, kidney), but like its aglycone quercetin it is poorly absorbed and hydrolysed by gut bacteria to quercetin, and every result to date is from cell and animal models.

Classification

Hyperoside is a flavonol glycoside, part of the phenolics class. Antioxidant compounds built around one or more phenol rings — the flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids, coumarins, and pigments behind much of a plant's protective chemistry.

Where Does It Come From? (9)

Hyperoside is a naturally occurring flavonol glycoside, found in Hawthorn, St. John's Wort, Motherwort and 6 other sources. It is well tolerated orally (low toxicity).

Pharmacology & Research

Hyperoside is quercetin carrying a single galactose at its 3-O position (quercetin-3-O-galactoside) — the galactoside sibling of rutin (the 3-O-rutinoside) and a stored form of the flavonol quercetin. Across this database it is best known as a standardisation marker: European Pharmacopoeia monographs express total flavonoids “as hyperoside” for St John’s Wort, motherwort (≥0.2%) and calendula (≥0.4%), and it is a characteristic flavonoid of hawthorn leaf-and-flower, a major leaf flavonoid of houttuynia, and enriched in the antioxidant fraction of juniper pseudo-fruit and bearberry leaf. Separately from that marker role, isolated hyperoside has one of the broader single-flavonoid preclinical literatures — protective signals in liver, brain, heart and kidney 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →. The caveat runs through all of it: as a flavonol glycoside hyperoside is poorly absorbed and is hydrolysed by gut bacteria to quercetin before much reaches the blood 3Reference 3Yang J et al. · 2013In vitroIdentification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiotaView study →, so its systemic pharmacology overlaps quercetin’s, and not one of these effects has been tested as the isolated molecule in a human trial.

What the evidence supports
  • Best-supported (preclinical): Hepatoprotection — isolated hyperoside limits oxidative stress and apoptosis in hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion and remodels gut microbiota in a NAFLD rat model 6Reference 6Shi Y et al. · 2019AnimalHyperoside Attenuates Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Suppressing Oxidative Stress and Inhibiting Apoptosis in Rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →9Reference 9Huang M et al. · 2025AnimalHyperoside ameliorates NAFLD in rats via remodeling gut microbiota and reprogramming serum metabolic networks — rat in vivo animal modelView study →. The deepest, most reproduced organ signal.
  • Emerging, worth watching: Neuroprotection / neuroinflammation (amyloid-β-injured neurons, LPS-activated microglia) 4Reference 4Zeng KW et al. · 2011In vitroHyperoside protects primary rat cortical neurons from neurotoxicity induced by amyloid β-protein via the PI3K/Akt/Bad/Bcl-XL-regulated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway — in vitroView study →5Reference 5Fan HH et al. · 2017In vitroHyperoside inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in microglial cells via p38 and NFκB pathways — in vitroView study → and cardioprotection in myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion via PI3K/Akt 7Reference 7Han J et al. · 2015AnimalProtective effect against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injuries induced by hyperoside preconditioning and its relationship with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →.
  • Mechanistically interesting but double-edged: Kidney — hyperoside eases diabetic-nephropathy inflammation in mice 8Reference 8Liu J et al. · 2021AnimalHyperoside Suppresses Renal Inflammation by Regulating Macrophage Polarization in Mice With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus — mouse in vivo animal modelView study →, yet it accumulates in the kidney and is nephrotoxic at high doses 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study → (see Toxicity).
  • Thin / broad: Anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity, catalogued across many cell models at high concentrations 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →.
  • The caveat that frames everything: low oral bioavailability, gut-bacterial hydrolysis to quercetin, and no isolated-hyperoside human trial — read the in-vitro potency against that 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →3Reference 3Yang J et al. · 2013In vitroIdentification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiotaView study →.
1. Hepatoprotection

The most reproduced organ signal. In a rat model of hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion, isolated hyperoside reduced liver injury by suppressing oxidative stress and inhibiting apoptosis (lower MDA, preserved antioxidant enzymes, shifted Bax/Bcl-2) 6Reference 6Shi Y et al. · 2019AnimalHyperoside Attenuates Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Suppressing Oxidative Stress and Inhibiting Apoptosis in Rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →. In a 12-week non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) rat model, hyperoside improved hepatic steatosis while remodelling the gut microbiota and reprogramming serum metabolites — a mechanism that fits its poor absorption and heavy gut-level exposure 9Reference 9Huang M et al. · 2025AnimalHyperoside ameliorates NAFLD in rats via remodeling gut microbiota and reprogramming serum metabolic networks — rat in vivo animal modelView study →. Reviews collect further hepatoprotective activity across chemical- and immune-injury models 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →.

Gap: all rat/cell models with no human dosing; because hyperoside is largely hydrolysed to quercetin before absorption, part of any systemic hepatoprotection may be a quercetin-metabolite effect rather than the intact glycoside 3Reference 3Yang J et al. · 2013In vitroIdentification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiotaView study →.

2. Neuroprotection & neuroinflammation

Two complementary lines, both isolated hyperoside. In primary rat cortical neurons, hyperoside protected against amyloid-β toxicity by engaging the PI3K/Akt/Bad/Bcl-XL axis and preserving mitochondrial integrity — an anti-apoptotic, pro-survival mechanism 4Reference 4Zeng KW et al. · 2011In vitroHyperoside protects primary rat cortical neurons from neurotoxicity induced by amyloid β-protein via the PI3K/Akt/Bad/Bcl-XL-regulated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway — in vitroView study →. In LPS-activated microglia, it suppressed nitric oxide and pro-inflammatory cytokine production via p38 MAPK and NF-κB inhibition, i.e. a neuroinflammation-damping action 5Reference 5Fan HH et al. · 2017In vitroHyperoside inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in microglial cells via p38 and NFκB pathways — in vitroView study →. Reviews add antioxidant and vasoprotective signals in cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion models 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →.

Gap: cell and rodent only, with no human cognitive or stroke data; brain exposure of an intact, poorly-absorbed flavonol glycoside is a real barrier, so the in-vivo relevance of the neuron-level concentrations is unproven 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →3Reference 3Yang J et al. · 2013In vitroIdentification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiotaView study →.

3. Cardioprotection

Isolated hyperoside is cardioprotective in myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion. Preconditioning rat hearts with hyperoside improved contractile recovery, cut infarct size, lowered CK/CK-MB leakage and TNF-α/IL-6, and shifted Bax/Bcl-2 toward survival — effects abolished when the PI3K/Akt pathway was blocked with LY294002, confirming that pathway as the mediator 7Reference 7Han J et al. · 2015AnimalProtective effect against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injuries induced by hyperoside preconditioning and its relationship with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →. Reviews describe hyperoside as having “very low toxicity in the effective dose range” for cardiac endpoints 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →.

Gap: single-mechanism rodent IR work; no human cardiac data, and the systemic exposure achievable from an oral glycoside is not addressed by these preconditioning experiments 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →7Reference 7Han J et al. · 2015AnimalProtective effect against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injuries induced by hyperoside preconditioning and its relationship with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →.

4. Kidney & diabetic nephropathy

A genuinely double-edged organ. In type-2 diabetic mice, isolated hyperoside reduced albuminuria and mesangial expansion and suppressed renal inflammation by shifting macrophages from a pro-inflammatory M1 to an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype (lower MCP-1, TNF-α, iNOS) 8Reference 8Liu J et al. · 2021AnimalHyperoside Suppresses Renal Inflammation by Regulating Macrophage Polarization in Mice With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus — mouse in vivo animal modelView study →. But pharmacokinetic work shows hyperoside accumulates in the kidney, and reviews explicitly warn that long-term high-dose hyperoside should be avoided because of renal toxicity 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study → — so the same organ that shows a therapeutic signal is also the dose-limiting one.

Gap: the nephroprotective data are a single diabetic-mouse model, directly countered by a documented high-dose nephrotoxicity ceiling; the therapeutic window in the kidney is unestablished 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →8Reference 8Liu J et al. · 2021AnimalHyperoside Suppresses Renal Inflammation by Regulating Macrophage Polarization in Mice With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus — mouse in vivo animal modelView study →.

5. Anti-inflammatory & anticancer

The broadest but thinnest tier. Beyond the microglial anti-inflammatory work above, reviews catalogue anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anticancer activity for isolated hyperoside across many cultured systems, typically at high micromolar concentrations, with scattered in-vivo support 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →.

Gap: most of this is in-vitro at concentrations the poor oral bioavailability makes hard to reach systemically; in-vivo tumour work is sparse and there are no human oncology or anti-inflammatory data for the isolated molecule 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →.

Mechanisms

Target / pathwayEffectRelevant to
Oxidative stress (↓MDA, ↑SOD/GSH)Scavenges ROS, preserves antioxidant defenceHepato-, neuro-, cardioprotection
Bax/Bcl-2, caspases (mitochondrial apoptosis)Shifts toward survival, ↓apoptosisLiver IR, neurons, myocardium
PI3K/AktActivates → pro-survival signallingNeuroprotection, cardioprotection
p38 MAPK + NF-κBInhibits → ↓NO, TNF-α, IL-6Microglial / renal / general anti-inflammatory
Macrophage M1→M2 polarisationRebalances → ↓renal inflammationDiabetic nephropathy
Gut microbiota / serum metabolomeRemodels → improved hepatic lipid handlingNAFLD / metabolic

Pharmacokinetics

Bioavailability is the load-bearing caveat, and it is inherited from the flavonol-glycoside family. Like rutin, hyperoside is a glycoside that is poorly absorbed intact and is cleaved by gut bacteria to its aglycone quercetin: incubation with human intestinal bacteria converts hyperoside to quercetin plus ring-fission phenolic acids (3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic and related), so what actually reaches the circulation is largely quercetin and its conjugates rather than the intact molecule 3Reference 3Yang J et al. · 2013In vitroIdentification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiotaView study →. The sugar identity matters for how fast this happens — the galactoside is hydrolysed by ileal microflora more slowly than the corresponding glucoside — which, combined with low permeability, keeps oral bioavailability low. Reviews report that absorbed hyperoside is distributed widely but accumulates preferentially in the kidney, the same organ that becomes dose-limiting at high exposure 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →. This is why so much formulation work (nanocrystals, delivery systems) targets hyperoside’s dissolution and absorption, and why its systemic pharmacology cannot be cleanly separated from quercetin’s 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →3Reference 3Yang J et al. · 2013In vitroIdentification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiotaView study →. The practical upshot mirrors quercetin: potent in-vitro concentrations are not trivially reachable from an oral dose.

Clinical trials

There are essentially no registered trials of isolated hyperoside. The human evidence that exists is for whole plants and standardised extracts in which hyperoside is one marker among many (St John’s Wort, hawthorn) — plant-extract exposures that cannot be read as a molecule result. Everything on this page is preclinical.

CompletedPlannedTerminatedPreclinical
None(isolated hyperoside)None knownNoneExtensive

Last checked: July 2026.

Toxicity & Safety

Hyperoside carries a low toxicity flag: as a common dietary flavonol glycoside it has a long history of incidental exposure, and reviews describe it as generally well tolerated with low toxicity in the effective dose range across animal studies 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →2Reference 2Wang K et al. · 2023ReviewPotential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — reviewView study →. The one specific and important signal is renal: pharmacokinetic studies show hyperoside accumulates in the kidney, and reviewers explicitly caution that long-term, high-dose hyperoside should be avoided because of renal toxicity 1Reference 1Xu S et al. · 2022ReviewHyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — reviewView study →. That ceiling sits awkwardly alongside its nephroprotective signal in diabetic-nephropathy models — the difference is dose and duration, and the safe window in people is simply unknown because the isolated molecule has not been trialled. Because hyperoside is hydrolysed to quercetin before absorption, quercetin’s interaction profile is the more relevant systemic concern: quercetin inhibits CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein and can disturb narrow-margin substrates (e.g. cyclosporine), so caution reasonable for quercetin applies downstream to a hyperoside dose that is largely delivered as quercetin. Dedicated human drug-interaction and safety data for isolated hyperoside do not exist.

Dosage

There is no established human dose for isolated hyperoside. Preclinical work uses oral or intraperitoneal dosing in the low tens of milligrams per kilogram in rodents (the hepatic-IR, myocardial-IR and diabetic-nephropathy studies) and high-micromolar concentrations in cell culture, figures inflated to offset poor absorption 4Reference 4Zeng KW et al. · 2011In vitroHyperoside protects primary rat cortical neurons from neurotoxicity induced by amyloid β-protein via the PI3K/Akt/Bad/Bcl-XL-regulated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway — in vitroView study →6Reference 6Shi Y et al. · 2019AnimalHyperoside Attenuates Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Suppressing Oxidative Stress and Inhibiting Apoptosis in Rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →7Reference 7Han J et al. · 2015AnimalProtective effect against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injuries induced by hyperoside preconditioning and its relationship with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in rats — rat in vivo animal modelView study →8Reference 8Liu J et al. · 2021AnimalHyperoside Suppresses Renal Inflammation by Regulating Macrophage Polarization in Mice With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus — mouse in vivo animal modelView study →. Because oral bioavailability is low, the molecule is hydrolysed to quercetin, and the kidney is the dose-limiting organ, extrapolating any of these to a human dose is speculative. These are doses studied in research and are not a personal recommendation.

References

  1. Xu S, Chen S, Xia W, Sui H, Fu X. (2022). Hyperoside: A Review of Its Structure, Synthesis, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity — review. Molecules, 27(9), 3009. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35566359/
  2. Wang K, Sun W, Zhang L, Guo W, Xu J, Liu S, et al. (2023). Potential Implications of Hyperoside on Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review — review. Journal of Inflammation Research, 16, 4503–4526. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37854313/
  3. Yang J, Qian D, Jiang S, Shang EX, Guo J, Duan JA. (2013). Identification of the major metabolites of hyperoside produced by the human intestinal bacteria using the ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry — in vitro human gut microbiota. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 147(1), 174–179. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23458919/
  4. Zeng KW, Wang XM, Ko H, Kwon HC, Cha JW, Yang HO. (2011). Hyperoside protects primary rat cortical neurons from neurotoxicity induced by amyloid β-protein via the PI3K/Akt/Bad/Bcl-XL-regulated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway — in vitro. European Journal of Pharmacology, 672(1–3), 45–55. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21978835/
  5. Fan HH, Zhu LB, Li T, Zhu H, Wang YN, Ren XL, et al. (2017). Hyperoside inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in microglial cells via p38 and NFκB pathways — in vitro. International Immunopharmacology, 50, 14–21. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28622577/
  6. Shi Y, Li F, Shen M, Sun C, Hao W, Wu C, et al. (2019). Hyperoside Attenuates Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Suppressing Oxidative Stress and Inhibiting Apoptosis in Rats — rat in vivo animal model. Transplantation Proceedings, 51(6), 2051–2059. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31399183/
  7. Han J, Xuan JL, Hu HR, Chen ZW. (2015). Protective effect against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injuries induced by hyperoside preconditioning and its relationship with PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in rats — rat in vivo animal model. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi (China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica), 40(1), 118–123. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25993800/
  8. Liu J, Zhang Y, Sheng H, Liang C, Liu H, Moran Guerrero JA, et al. (2021). Hyperoside Suppresses Renal Inflammation by Regulating Macrophage Polarization in Mice With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus — mouse in vivo animal model. Frontiers in Immunology, 12, 733808. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34925317/
  9. Huang M, et al. (2025). Hyperoside ameliorates NAFLD in rats via remodeling gut microbiota and reprogramming serum metabolic networks — rat in vivo animal model. Frontiers in Nutrition, 12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41601885/