الفهرس 
Review of LiteratureOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Usnic acid (UA), a natural botanical product, is a constituent of some dietary supplements used for weight loss. It has been associated with clinical hepatotoxicity leading to liver failure in humans. The present study was undertaken for toxicity evaluations of (+)UA on HepG2 cell line in culture. The cells were treated with the vehicle control and (+)UA at concentrations of 0–100 µM for 24 h at 37C in 5% CO2 incubator. Following the treatment period, the cells were evaluated by biochemical endpoints of toxicity that included MTT activity, LDH release, liver function tests and alpha-fetoprotein as a tumor marker. (+)UA exposure resulted in increased cytotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction in HepG2 cells. compared with the controls, low non-toxic concentrations of UA separately showed no effect on the cells as determined by the biochemical endpoints compared with higher concentrations (P<0.001). The findings in this study demonstrated the toxicity of the (+) (UA) to human hepatoblastoma HepG2 cells, suggesting an oxidative mechanism of action.