Abstract
The cytotoxicity of alpha- and beta-asarone was investigated with the BrdU assay in HepG2-cells. Alpha-asarone was found to be more toxic than beta-asarone after 24 hours of treatment. Investigation of the genotoxicity using the micronucleus assay in the HepG2-cell system showed that only after metabolic activation by a liver microsomal preparation, beta-asarone was able to induce micronuclei at concentrations higher than 50 μg/mL.