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Toxic and mutagenic potentials of herbal teas

Three commercially available herbal tea preparations (Weightless, Female Toner, and PMS) and one single ingredient herbal preparation, Chaparral (Larrea tridentata), were sequentially extracted with solvents of decreasing polarity (water, methanol and chloroform) and the crude extracts obtained screened for toxic/mutagenic potentials using the brine shrimp (Artemia sp.), mouse acute toxicity, Salmonella/microsomal mutagenicity, and chicken embryo bioassays. The crude aqueous extract from Weightless Tea was very toxic to brine shrimp larvae and had a cathartic action in mice at the highest concentration tested. While Weightless tea crude water extract was not mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium TA100 at the concentrations tested, three chromatographic isolates obtained from a silica Gel 60 column were mutagenic to the test organism. Two of these isolates were detoxified after inclusion of a microsomal activation system. The teratogenic potentials of these isolates are unknown as the results obtained from the chicken embryo bioassay were not conclusive.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/292011
Date January 1991
CreatorsManteiga, Raquel, 1963-
ContributorsPark, Douglas L.
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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