Toxicity of green tea extracts and their constituents in rat hepatocytes in primary culture

摘要

Recent sporadic case reports on liver disorders after ingestion of dietary supplements based on extracts from green tea led to restrictions of the marketing of such products. Since green tea is considered to exert a number of beneficial health effects, and therefore, is widely used as a dietary supplement, we were interested in the possible mechanism of hepatotoxicity of green tea extracts. Seven hours after seeding on collagen, rat hepatocytes in primary culture were treated with seven different hydro-alcoholic green tea extracts with an incubation time of 17 h. Cells were washed, and reduction of resazurin, used as a viability parameter, was determined.