Abstract
Green tea and tea polyphenols have been studied extensively as cancer chemopreventive agents in recent years. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is widely recognized as a powerful antioxidant and a free radical scavenger. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of green tea catechins (GTC) on the Bleomycin- and Cyclophosphamide-induced cytotoxicity. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. In the protective effect of GTC, the cell viability was significantly increased by the treatment of GTC. Furthermore, GTC showed the higher protective effect than EGCG and vitamin E. These results suggest that GTC has the protective effect which is related to the prevention of cancer. Our studies show that the continuous presence of EGCG can reduce radical-induced DNA damage in Chinese hamster lung fibroblast cells (CHL cells).