Chemical composition and toxicity of Taiwanese betel quid extract

In this genotoxic study, the Ames Salmonella microsome test showed that an aqueous extract of betel quid did not induce mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100. Mammalian cell studies (Chinese hamster ovary K1 cell; CHO-K1 cell) revealed that only higher concentrations (100 and 1000 microg/ml) of aqueous extract weekly increased the frequencies of sister-chromatid exchange (SCE) in the absence of S9. Animal (male Sprague-Dawley rat) studies showed that low-dose feeding (0.53 g dry aqueous extract/kg diet) significantly increased the activities of glutathione (GSH) peroxidase and cytoplasmic glutathione S-transferase (cGST) of liver, high-dose feeding (26.5 g dry aqueous extract/kg diet) lowered the contents of GSH and total glutathione. The effect of an aqueous extract of betel quid on the oxidation of 2'-deoxyguanosine (2'-dG) to 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) evaluated that this aqueous extract may act as a pro-oxidant at lower dosage and may be dependent on the iron ions in the model system. However, the aqueous extract of betel quid showed antioxidant activity at higher doses by the ability of the scavenging effect of the hydroxyl radicals.