New publication in Food and Chemical Toxicology

The HESI Botanical Safety Consortium collaborates to develop screening strategies that can efficiently identify botanical-induced toxicity. The study presented here evaluates the applicability of in vitro multi-well microelectrode array (MEA) recordings for screening and prioritizing botanical extracts for their neuroactive potential. To this aim, 16 botanical extract materials were tested for their effects on mitochondrial activity and neuronal activity upon acute exposure. Most botanical extracts tested in this study inhibit neuronal activity in vitro. Results show that MEA recordings in rat cortical cultures provide an efficient tool for screening the neurotoxicity of botanical extracts. Further testing is required to derive full dose-response curves and mechanistic insight.

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