EGCG Extraction and Characterization

EGCG, with more than 98% purity, was kindly provided by Prof. Masami Suganuma at Saitama University (Saitama, Japan). It was extracted from Japanese green tea leaves (Camellia sinensis L., O. Kuntze, Theaceae) that were cultured at the Saitama Prefectural Tea Institute in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, as described previously [19 (link),51 (link)]. Mueller Hinton Broth (MHB) and Muller Hinton Agar (MHA) were purchased from HiMedia (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India). Rh123, Triton X-100, Glutaraldehyde, and Osmium tetroxide (OsO₄) were obtained from Sigma Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). Resazurin AR (ALPHA CHEMIKA, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India), Tetracycline hydrochloride (PanReac AppliChem, Barcelona, Spain), NPN (TCI, Tokyo, Japan), Bio-Rad DC Protein Assay kit, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA) were used for the experiments.