Methoxyluteolin

Methylated flavone · also known as Tetramethoxyluteolin, 3',4',5,7-tetramethoxyflavone

Methylated flavone studied in cultured human mast cells; chemically distinct from luteolin, with no human outcome data in any condition.

How it relates to mast cells: Mast cells in the laboratory
Types of studies cited: Human mast cells in vitro
Approved for: nothing — No regulatory approval

What this relationship means: Studied on mast cells directly, but in cell culture or animals rather than in people. The study-design field distinguishes human cells from non-human models. A mechanism demonstrated in a dish is a reason to investigate, not a result — and the concentrations used are frequently ones that human exposure does not reach.

Mechanism of action

Methoxyluteolin is a methylated derivative of the flavone luteolin. Three studies using the LAD2 human mast cell line report that it inhibits mediator release under specific stimuli: proinflammatory mediators released after neuropeptide stimulation, interleukin-1β secreted when substance P and IL-33 are applied together, and the chemokines CCL5 and CCL2 released in response to IL-33 through MAPK and NF-κB signalling.

Those stimuli are worth noticing. Substance P and IL-33 are not the IgE-receptor cross-linking that most mast cell laboratory work uses, and the mediators measured are cytokines and chemokines rather than histamine. This is a different experimental question from the degranulation studies behind the other flavone entries here.

It has a separate page from luteolin because it is a separate compound. The cited work attributes its greater metabolic stability to the methylation, which is the same difference that makes results non-transferable between the two — in both directions. A product labelled as luteolin does not contain it.

Sources

Methoxyluteolin Inhibits Neuropeptide-stimulated Proinflammatory Mediator Release via mTOR Activation from Human Mast Cells Peer-reviewed study 2017 PMID 28404689 · link checked 25 Aug 2026
Substance P and IL-33 administered together stimulate a marked secretion of IL-1β from human mast cells, inhibited by methoxyluteolin Peer-reviewed study 2018 PMID 30232261 · link checked 25 Aug 2026
IL-33 stimulates human mast cell release of CCL5 and CCL2 via MAPK and NF-κB, inhibited by methoxyluteolin Peer-reviewed study 2019 PMID 31669588 · link checked 25 Aug 2026

What this evidence cannot establish

Every cited result comes from the LAD2 human mast cell line. No human has been studied, in MCAS or in any other condition, so nothing here establishes an outcome, a dose, or an achievable exposure. The compound is also not interchangeable with luteolin: methylation is what the cited work attributes its improved metabolic stability to, which means results from one do not transfer to the other in either direction. Retail products sold as luteolin are not this compound, and a supplement is not required to state which flavone it contains in these terms.

What this page does not say

No dosing, and no claim that this works. The entry describes a published mechanism, the cited study types, and what those studies cannot establish — nothing further. Why the site is built this way.

Recently verified. Verified 25 Aug 2026