title: Subchronic toxicity study of dietary N-acetylglucosamine in F344 rats.
abstract: A subchronic toxicity study of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), a monomeric form of chitin, was conducted in groups of 10 male and 10 female F344 rats fed pelleted diets containing 0, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5 or 5% concentrations for 13 weeks. All animals survived until the end of the experiment. Slight, non-significant increase in body weights was observed in males receiving 0.625, 1.25 or 2.5% from week 4 until the end of the experiment, when significant elevation was found for the males receiving 0.625, 1.25 or 2.5% at the terminal sacrifice to result in decreased relative weights of many organs in these cases. However, there were no obvious indications of toxicity in any group receiving GlcNAc in terms of clinical signs, food intake, hematology, serum biochemistry, and histopathological findings. Thus, it was concluded that orally administered GlcNAc exerts no obvious toxicity to F344 rats at concentrations up to 5% in the diet for 13 weeks. Based on the present toxicity data, > or =5% was determined to be a no-observed-adverse-effect level, translated into 2476 and 2834 mg/kg/day for male and female rats, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, National Institute of Health Sciences, 1-18-1 Kamiyoga, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyoung-Youl
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibutani
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arimura
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takigami
authors.forename: Chikako
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uneyama
authors.forename: Natsumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirose
mesh_terms: D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004032:Diet; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D019055:No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344
chemical_list: D000117:Acetylglucosamine