Oral Single-dose Toxicity Studies on Germanium-fortified Lettuce, in Mouse

Single-dose toxicity test of germanium-fortified lettuce was investigated in mice. Both sexes of C57BL/6 mice were orally administered once at a dose of 2,000 mg/kg. No death, clinical signs and pathological findings related to the treatment were observed. In addition, no significant changes in feed consumption and body weight gain were obtained during the treatment period, in spite of day-to-day fluctuation of water consumption. There were no considerable changes in hematology and serum biochemistry, except a significant decrease in GPT, GOT and LDH. Several alterations were observed in organ weight and blood biochemistry, including thymus, ovaries, heart, kidney and platelet in male or female mice. The ability of spleen cells proliferation was almost same level as shown in control group. However the population of B cells, helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells was not comparably changed in all groups. Taken together, it is suggested that single oral dose of germanium-fortified lettuce to C57BU6 mice did not cause apparent toxicological change at the dose of 2,000 mg/kg body weight.