A 90-day safety study in Sprague-Dawley rats fed milk powder containing recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) derived from transgenic cloned cattle

Abstract

Transgenic cloned animals expressing beneficial human nutritional traits offer a new strategy for large-scale production of some kinds of functional substances. In some cases, the required safety testing for genetically modified (GM) foods do not seem appropriate for human food safety, though regulations do not seem to provide alternatives. A 90-day rat feeding study is the core study for the safety assessment of GM foods. The test material in this 90-day study was prepared nonfat milk powder containing recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF), which was expressed in transgenic cloned cattle. Groups of 10 male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were given a nutritionally balanced purified diet containing 7.5, 15, or 30% transgenic or conventional milk powder for 90 days. A commercial AIN93G diet was used as an additional control group. Clinical, biological, and pathological parameters were compared between groups. The only significant effect of treatment was higher mean ferritin and Fe⁺ concentrations for both male and female rats fed the transgenic milk powder diets, as compared to rats fed nontransgenic milk diets or the commercial diet. The results of the present study are consistent with previous research, which indicates that milk powder containing rhLF derived from healthy transgenic cloned cattle is as safe as conventional milk powder.

Keywords::

• Rat feeding study
• recombinant human lactoferrin
• iron metabolism

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge all colleagues who contributed to the LF project and participated in the safety assessment of rhLF.

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by a grant from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2007AA100501).