Literature review on the safety of Toyocerin, a non-toxigenic and non-pathogenic Bacillus cereus var. toyoi preparation.

Bacillus cereus var. toyoi is a naturally occurring, non-toxigenic and non-pathogenic strain of B. cereus. Safety studies were conducted on a B. toyoi preparation (Toyocerin, including but not limited to enterotoxicity, eye irritation, genotoxicity, acute, subchronic and chronic toxicity studies and human clinical trials. In rabbits, Toyocerin did not exhibit enterotoxicity and was only slightly irritating to the eyes. It was non-mutagenic in an Ames assay at up to 10,000 microg/plate and did not exhibit clastogenic activity in a chromosomal aberration test at up to 450 mg/ml. It was non-toxic in acute and repeated-dose (30 and 60 days and 1 year) toxicity studies in rats and mice at up to 3 x 10(11)spores/kg bw/day. In an eight-day human clinical trial, Toyocerin did not cause any adverse effects in healthy male and female subjects at 1 x 10(9) and 1 x 10(10)spores/kg bw/day. In feeding trials, Toyocerin not cause any adverse effects in rabbits, pigs, chickens, turkeys and cattle at doses ranging from 8.5 x 10(7) to 4 x 10(9)spores/kg bw/day for durations of 2 weeks to 18 months. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that Toyocerin is safe at the doses tested.