Ding Xiaoyan, Han Changshun, Hu Weiping, Fu Chengqing, Zhou Yixi, Wang Zheng, Xu Qingyan, Lv Rongfu, He Chengyong, Zuo Zhenghong, Huang Jiyi
State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, The Fifth Hospital of Xiamen, Xiang'an Branch of the First Affiliated Hospital, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China.
Toxics. 2022 May 27;10(6):286. doi: 10.3390/toxics10060286.
Theabrownin (TB) is a heterogeneous biomacromolecule, extracted from tea, with many functional groups. Importantly, TB possesses diverse health benefits, such as antitumor activity and blood lipid-lowering effects. Presently, the content of TB in tea extract is relatively low. Here, we obtained a deep-processed black tea extract with a high content of TB (close to 80%), which was named Herbt Tea Essences (HTE). Currently, this study was designed to evaluate the biosafety of high-content TB products on mice. We implemented acute and subacute toxic experiments to assess its safety on organs, the serum biochemical and molecular levels. In the acute exposure study, we found that the median lethal dose (LD) value of HTE was 21.68 g/kg (21.06-24.70 g/kg, greater than 5 g/kg), suggesting that HTE had a low acute toxicity. In the 28-day subacute exposure study, our results showed that no abnormal effects were observed in the 40 and 400 mg/kg/day HTE-treated groups. However, we observed slight nephrotoxicity in the 4000 mg/kg/day HTE-treated group. The HTE-induced nephrotoxic effect might involve the inflammatory response activation mediated by the nuclear transcription factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling pathway. This study would provide valuable data for the TB safety assessment and promote this natural biomacromolecule application in daily drinking.
茶褐素（TB）是一种从茶叶中提取的具有多种官能团的异质生物大分子。重要的是，茶褐素具有多种健康益处，如抗肿瘤活性和降血脂作用。目前，茶提取物中茶褐素的含量相对较低。在此，我们获得了一种茶褐素含量高（接近80%）的深度加工红茶提取物，将其命名为草本茶精华（HTE）。目前，本研究旨在评估高含量茶褐素产品对小鼠的生物安全性。我们进行了急性和亚急性毒性实验，以评估其在器官、血清生化和分子水平上的安全性。在急性暴露研究中，我们发现草本茶精华的半数致死剂量（LD）值为21.68 g/kg（21.06 - 24.70 g/kg，大于5 g/kg），表明草本茶精华具有低急性毒性。在为期28天的亚急性暴露研究中，我们的结果显示，在40和400 mg/kg/天的草本茶精华处理组中未观察到异常影响。然而，我们在4000 mg/kg/天的草本茶精华处理组中观察到了轻微的肾毒性。茶褐素诱导的肾毒性作用可能涉及由核转录因子κB（NF-κB）信号通路介导的炎症反应激活。本研究将为茶褐素的安全性评估提供有价值的数据，并促进这种天然生物大分子在日常饮品中的应用。
