Developing a Screening Strategy to Identify Hepatotoxicity and Drug Interaction Potential of Botanicals. Roe et al., 2024. Journal of Dietary Supplements. https://doi.org/10.1080/19390211.2024.2417679   The HESI Botanical Safety Consortium‘s Hepatotoxicity Working Group has developed a screening strategy to identify hepatotoxicity and drug interaction risks associated with botanicals. Botanical products are complex mixtures that are difficult to test in traditional…

Koturbash et al., 2024. Botanical-induced toxicity: Liver injury and botanical-drug interactions. A report on a Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting symposium. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2024.105708   This article addresses the growing public health concerns surrounding the use of botanical supplements and herbal products, focusing on their potential to cause liver toxicity and dangerous drug interactions. As the…

A new paper from the HESI Botanical Safety Consortium describes the development and validation of a novel method for quantifying the constituents in milk thistle extracts to ensure consistency and reliability in efficacy and toxicity research. Milk thistle has been used for its purported hepatoprotective properties and other reported health benefits. Given that it is a complex…

A recent article from the Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) Neurotoxicity Working Group aims to evaluate existing NAMs for neurotoxicity screening of botanicals as complex mixtures. The article provides background on three assays or models for neuroactivity screening (C. elegans, zebrafish embryos, and multi-electrode arrays) and well-studied botanicals used as case studies for neurotoxicity, including aconite and oleander. Article…

A newly published study from the Botanical Safety Consortium, selected for the cover of Journal of Applied Toxicology, used computational models to predict the physiochemical and pharmacokinetic properties of botanical constituents.  This study investigated 103 major compounds from 13 botanicals (e.g., ashwagandha, kratom, and yohimbe), providing insights into their absorption, bioavailability, and safety profiles.  The in-silico…

A cross-sector group of experts from the Health and Environmental Sciences Institutes (HESI)’s Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC) and Genetic Toxicology Technical Committee (GTTC) analyzed data from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Ames test database to evaluate the need for repeat testing when assessing the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of chemical compounds. Key Findings: High reproducibility for initial positive and…

Advancing botanical safety: A strategy for selecting, sourcing, and characterizing botanicals for developing toxicological tools. Waidyanatha et al., February 2024. Food and Chemical Toxicology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2024.114537 Increases in botanical use, encompassing herbal medicines and dietary supplements, have underlined a critical need for an advancement in safety assessment methodologies. This manuscript highlights: 1) Botanical Safety Consortium’s strategy for…

Neuroactivity screening of botanical extracts using microelectrode array (MEA) recordings Regina G.D.M. van Kleef, Michelle R. Embry, Constance A. Mitchell, Remco H.S. Westerink. Food and Chemical Toxicology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2024.114438 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…