THE EFFECT OF SOME HERBAL EXTRACTS ON LIVER CELLS (BIOLOGICAL STUDY)

Abstract

Usnic acid is a herbal extract and one of the nutritional supplements used to lose weight. Laboratory studies have proven beyond reasonable doubt to cause damage to liver cells in humans, and there are many cases of liver failure that have been documented and required liver transplants as a result of using this herbal product, ingesting pure Usnic acid or Usnic acid-containing products. These drugs are still used in the market because of the delay in detecting liver poisoning and the lack of research to prove its hepatoxic mechanisms. The HepG2 cell line has been introduced in research to be a useful model for the study of human liver cells because it practically demonstrated many genetic and phenotypic features of normal liver cells and also maintains many of the cellular functions present in living cells. It is possible to grow these cells indefinitely for long-term studies. It has become widely used in laboratories to conduct biochemical and toxicological effects on hepatic cells. In this study, we investigated the toxicity of Usnic acid on human HepG2 cells.