Institute of Toxicology, Guangxi Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanning, China.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China.
Biomed Res Int. 2020 Nov 5;2020:9689386. doi: 10.1155/2020/9689386. eCollection 2020.
Sericin is a natural protein component of silks of silkworm and has potential utility in multiple areas such as pharmacological, cosmetics, and biotechnological industries. However, the understanding of its toxicological safety is still limited. This study evaluated the safety of water-extract sericin from silkworm () cocoons using different model approaches, including three genotoxicity studies (the bacterial reverse mutation test, the mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus test, and the mouse spermatogonia chromosomal aberration test) and a 90-day subchronic toxicity study in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The results of this study showed that water-extract sericin was nonmutagenic and nongenotoxic both and . Sericin did not induce significant changes in the body and organ weight, food intake, blood hematology and serum biochemistry, urine index, and histopathology in rats. The NOAEL of sericin was determined to be 1 g/kg/day for male and female rats. These results indicated that water-extract sericin was of low toxicity in the experimental conditions of the current study and had the potential for application in food-related products.
丝胶是家蚕丝腺分泌物中的一种天然蛋白质，具有广泛的应用价值，包括在药理学、化妆品和生物技术等多个领域。然而，其毒理学安全性的理解仍然有限。本研究采用不同的模型方法评估了家蚕茧水提丝胶的安全性，包括三项遗传毒性研究（细菌回复突变试验、哺乳动物红细胞微核试验和小鼠精原细胞染色体畸变试验）和一项在 Sprague-Dawley（SD）大鼠中进行的 90 天亚慢性毒性研究。研究结果表明，水提丝胶在体内和体外均无致突变性和遗传毒性。丝胶不会引起大鼠体重和器官重量、食物摄入量、血液学和血清生化学、尿液指标以及组织病理学的显著变化。丝胶对雌雄大鼠的无可见不良反应水平（NOAEL）确定为 1 g/kg/天。这些结果表明，在本研究的实验条件下，水提丝胶的毒性较低，具有在食品相关产品中应用的潜力。
