Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, PR China.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2013 Jun 21;148(1):190-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2013.04.009. Epub 2013 Apr 16.
Pu-erh black tea, which is obtained by first parching crude green tea leaves and followed by secondary fermentation with microorganisms, has been believed to be beneficial beverages for health in PR China. But its potential toxicity when administered at a high dose as concentrated extract has not been completely investigated.
The present study was aimed at evaluating potential reproductive and developmental toxicities of Pu-erh black tea extract (BTE) in Sprague Dawley rats.
Growing rats were given BTE by gavage at levels of 0, 200, 700 and 2500mg/kg/day as the F0 generation in reproductive toxicity study. Additionally, BTE was administered to mate female rats from gestation day 0.5 through 19.5 at the doses of 0, 200, 700 and 2500mg/kg/day to evaluate the developmental toxicity.
In the reproductive toxicity study, only 2500mg/kg/day BTE reduced the body weight gain and altered the relative organ weights including testes, prostata and ovary both for F0 parents and F1 offspring compared to the controls. High dose of BTE (2500mg/kg/day) administration caused developmental disturbances in embryo-to-foetus period including resorbed embryos, decreased embryo size and skeletal anomalies.
In conclusion, the no-observed-adverse-effect level of BTE is 700mg/kg/day both for reproductive toxicity and developmental toxicities.
普洱茶，通过先将生绿茶烘焙，然后用微生物进行二次发酵而制成，在中国被认为是有益于健康的饮品。但是，其作为浓缩提取物高剂量给药时的潜在毒性尚未完全研究。
本研究旨在评估普洱茶提取物（BTE）对 Sprague Dawley 大鼠的潜在生殖和发育毒性。
在生殖毒性研究中，生长大鼠通过灌胃给予 BTE，剂量分别为 0、200、700 和 2500mg/kg/天，作为 F0 代。此外，从妊娠第 0.5 天到第 19.5 天，给予 BTE 以评估发育毒性。
在生殖毒性研究中，只有 2500mg/kg/天的 BTE 降低了体重增加，并改变了 F0 父母和 F1 后代的相对器官重量，包括睾丸、前列腺和卵巢。高剂量的 BTE（2500mg/kg/天）给药导致胚胎到胎儿期的发育障碍，包括吸收的胚胎、胚胎大小减小和骨骼异常。
总之，BTE 的无观察到不良效应水平为 700mg/kg/天，无论是生殖毒性还是发育毒性。
