In the human oral cavity, nitrite is reduced to nitric oxide (NO) by certain bacteria. The NO formed reacts with O2 to generate NO2 and then with NO2 producing N2O3. In this study, N2O3 produced by the reaction between NO and NO2 was detected by fluorescence increase due to the transformation of 4,5-diaminofluorescein to fluorescent triazolfluorescein. Nitrite-induced fluorescence increase in the bacterial fraction of saliva was completely inhibited by 1muM quercetin and the complete inhibition continued until almost all quercetin had been oxidized. Nitrite-induced fluorescence increase was also observed in the saliva which contained salivary redox components. Quercetin effectively inhibited the fluorescence increase. During the inhibition of the fluorescence increases by quercetin, the flavonol was oxidized. NO2 seemed to participate in the oxidation. The main oxidation product was 2-(3,4-dihydroxybenzoyl)-2,4,6-trihydroxy-3(2H)-benzofurane. Thiocyanate inhibited the fluorescence increase in bacterial fraction and duration of the complete inhibition by quercetin was prolonged by SCN-. The inhibition and the prolongation are discussed to be due to SCN--dependent inhibition of oxidation of nitrite to NO2 by salivary peroxidase. Quercetin cooperated with ascorbate to inhibit the fluorescence increase. From the results obtained in this study, it is deduced (1) that quercetin can protect human oral cavity from damages induced by reactive nitrogen species and (2) that the protective function of quercetin may be significant when antioxidant capacity of saliva is decreased by periodontal diseases.