Toxicity evaluation of fungal food colourant from Thermomyces sp. in albino mice

摘要

This study evaluates acute and sub-acute toxicity on albino mice of yellow pigment isolated from Thermomyces sp. for food application to assess its safety in experimental animals. Oral feeding of Thermomyces sp. (0.5-5.0 g/kg body wt) to adult mice did not show any symptoms of toxicity or mortality of mice. Oral feeding of Thermomyces sp. at 0.25-2.0% level (w/w) for 28 days did not produce any significant changes in body weight gain of experimental mice compared to control mice. There were no significant differences in relative weight of vital organs, hematological parameters and histopathological analysis between experimental and control groups. Thus acute and sub-acute oral feeding of fungal pigment did not produce any toxic effects in male and female mice.