Embryo and Fetal Developmental Toxicity Study on Gamma-Irradiated Korean Ginseng in Rats

방사선 조사 인삼이 랫드의 기형유발에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Korean ginseng products have been fumigated with ethylene oxide (EO) for sterilization and prolongation of storage periods. However, there had been controversies indicating that consumption of EO treated foods might cause harmful effects in human. In Korea, the use EO gas for food treatment was banned in 1991. Since then, irradiation technique has been developed as an alternative. This study was carried out to evaluate the safety of irradiated ginseng on embryo and fetal developmental toxicity effects in rats. Either EO gas fumigated or $\gamma$-irradiated ginseng was administered to pregnant Wistar rats by oral gavage from gestational day 7 to 17. The amount of irradiation used in this study was 5, 10 and 30 kGy, respectively. There were no treatment related changes of dams in deaths, clinical signs, food consumption and body/organ weight. No treatment related changes in implantation ratio, litter size, sex ratio and body/organ weight of fetuses were observed. Also, no F1fetuses with external, visceral, head and skeletal mal-formation were observed. The results of this study showed that $\gamma$-irradiated ginseng, up to 30 kGy, has no adverse effects on fetal development of rats.