Development of rapid in vitro assay for oxidative liver injury and its application to 230 chemicals

Water environments are thought to be polluted with thousands of synthetic chemicals and biproducts involving persistent organic pollutants and endocrine disrupters, and their human and ecological impacts are causing serious anxiety. Many bioassays have been undertaken to evaluate the hazardous impacts of toxic chemicals dissolved in water. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are well known to be involved in the toxicity of various chemicals. ROS are mostly generated in liver and cause oxidative damage to DNA, lipids and proteins, resulting in the failure of cellular functions. In order to develop an in vitro bioassay system to estimate ROS induced liver toxicity by chemicals, we investigated the lipid peroxidation, liver cell injury, and genotoxicity using the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, Hep-G2 (ATCC HB 8065), and applied it to 230 chemicals.