Sub-chronic Toxicity Study of a Characterized Food Grade Chitosan from Crab (Callinectes sapidus)

Abstract

Food grade chitosan was produced by modification of the deproteinization and demineralization steps, as well as the sequential treatment process in traditional chitosan production process. Chitosan was functionally characterized using standard procedures. The sub-chronic toxicity of chitosan was assessed using clinical blood chemistry and histopathological parameters of male and female albino rats (Rattusnorvegicus) of Wistar strain. The physiochemical characteristics of food grade chitosan produced in this study show that ash, nitrogen and moisture content were 0.60±0.00 %, 6.94±0.06 % and 0.75±0.02 % respectively. The mean functional
characteristic of molecular weight, degree of deacetylation, solubility, water binding capacity, fat binding capacity and viscosity were 152.00±1.30 kda, 89.00±0.50%, 95.40±0.65 %, 270.00±6.2 %, 487.00±7.40 % and
91.00±5.00 cp respectively. With the satellite group and in the female rats treated with chitosan, aspartate aminotransferase (ALT) and alanine aminotransferase (AST) were in the range 27.45±1.00 to 29.87±2.17 U/l
and 97.00±3.23 to 100.40±1.25 U/l in comparison to their control values of 32.02±1.06 and 103.25±2.15 U/l respectively. However alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (51.78±5.40 U/l) was significantly (p < 0.05) different from the control (40.25±2.45 U/l). In the male category both ALT (50.60±5.04 U/l) and ALP (80.45±3.14 U/l) were significantly (p < 0.05) different from control values of 37.25±2.18 and 64.70±2.51 U/l respectively. Microscopic examination showed no treatment related histopathological alterations in the vital organs of liver and kidney of albino rats irrespective of chitosan levels used. Conclusively chitosan administered orally did not cause sub-chronic toxicities in female and male rats.