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Green tea and their major constituents such as catechins are famous materials for their antioxidative and anti-carcinogenic activity, but many compounds with reducing power can promote the oxidation in their oxidized form or in the presence of metal ion. We investigated the pro-oxidative effect of the ethanol extract equivalent up to 30 mg of dried weight of green tea leaves in four in vitro systems which could be used for detecting DNA damage. Although ethanol extract of green tea did not show significant mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium TA102, which is sensitive strain to oxidative stress, it degraded deoxyribose extensively in the presence of FeCl3-EDTA complex, promoted 8-oxoguanine formation in the live bacteria cell, Salmonella typhimurium TA104, and cleaved super coiled DNA strand with the help of copper ion. It suggested that green tea, famous anti-oxidative material, can be pro-oxidant according to the condition of extraction or metal existence.
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