title: A 90-day toxicology study of meat from genetically modified sheep overexpressing TLR4 in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: Genetic modification offers alternative strategies to traditional animal breeding. However, the food safety of genetically modified (GM) animals has attracted increasing levels of concern. In this study, we produced GM sheep overexpressing TLR4, and the transgene-positive offsprings (F1) were confirmed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot. The expression of TLR4 was 2.5-fold compared with that of the wild-type (WT) sheep samples. During the 90-day safety study, Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with three different dietary concentrations (3.75%, 7.5%, and 15% wt/wt) of GM sheep meat, WT sheep meat or a commercial diet (CD). Blood samples from the rats were collected and analyzed for hematological and biochemical parameters, and then compared with hematological and biochemical reference ranges. Despite a few significant differences among the three groups in some parameters, all other values remained within the normal reference intervals and thus were not considered to be affected by the treatment. No adverse diet-related differences in body weights or relative organ weights were observed. Furthermore, no differences were observed in the gross necropsy findings or microscopic pathology of the rats whose diets contained the GM sheep meat compared with rats whose diets contained the WT sheep meat. Therefore, the present 90-day rat feeding study suggested that the meat of GM sheep overexpressing TLR4 had no adverse effect on Sprague-Dawley rats in comparison with WT sheep meat. These results provide valuable information regarding the safety assessment of meat derived from GM animals.
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China; School of Life Science, Shanxi Datong University, Datong, Shanxi, P. R. China.
authors: Hai
authors: H
authors: Bai
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Zhixian
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Rui
authors: R
authors: Hu
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Tongtong
authors: T
authors: Kan
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Tianjin Institute of Animal Sciences, Tianjin, P. R. China.
authors: Xiaosheng
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Tianjin Institute of Animal Sciences, Tianjin, P. R. China.
authors: Jinlong
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Ling
authors: L
authors: Lian
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Hongbing
authors: H
authors: Han
authors: Beijing Key Laboratory of Animal Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors: Zhengxing
authors: Z
authors: Lian
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics*; D001835:Body Weight; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000633:toxicity*; D006403:Hematologic Tests; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000633:toxicity*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012756:Sheep / Q000235:genetics*; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000235:genetics*; D019076:Transgenes; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4