title: Single dose toxicity studies of sulfated water soluble beta-D-glucan in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: The fungal beta-D-glucan is a biological response modifier (BRM), but a major obstacle to the clinical utilization of these BRMs is their relative insolubility in aqueous media. We made soluble sulfated-beta-glucan (SGL) from insoluble beta-glucan (IGL) by sulfation method. In single dose toxicity study of SGL for 7 days, no negative effects on body weight or food consumption of rats were evident below a dose rate of 2,000 mg kg(-1) SGL. No clinical pathology, functional/behavioral, or gross observations indicating toxicity were detected. In hematology and biochemistry, statistically significant increases of WBC and neutrophils (P < 0.01) in male and increase of MCV (P < 0.05) in females was observed. However, since the changes were not dose-responsive, the effects were considered to be of no toxicological significance. These results suggest that chemically modified sulfated-beta-D-glucan was lesstoxic than the insoluble b-glucan and not considered acutely toxic following peritoneal exposure to 2,000 mg kg(-1) day(-1) in Sprague-Dawley rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Soonchunhyang University, Asan City 336-745, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Hyun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jong Yoon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Paek
authors.forename: Hyun-Woung
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Man-Deuk
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005936:Glucans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012995:Solubility; D013431:Sulfates / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D005936:Glucans; D013431:Sulfates; D014867:Water