Objective: Rats were fed by transgenic rice which expressed insecticidal protein CpTI (cowpea trypsin inhibitor) to study if the transgenic rice possessed potential teratogenicity effects.
Methods: Weanling Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: transgenic rice group, non transgenic rice group, negative control group and positive control group. The diet of transgenic rice group contained 78.3% transgenic rice. The diet of non transgenic rice group contained 74.7% non transgenic rice which was the parent line of the transgenic one. The diet formula of the two control groups was AIN93G. The marco- and micronutrient content were equal in three diets. When the sexual maturation period of rats arrived, conventional teratogenicity test was performed.
Results: The body weight gain of pregnant rats and body weight, body length and tail length of fetal rats in transgenic rice group were significant higher than those in positive control group (P < 0.01). The malformation rate of fetus in transgenic rice group was significant lower than that in positive control group (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: There were no significant differences of all indexes among transgenic rice group, non transgenic rice group and negative control group (P > 0.05). Judging from these results, the transgenic rice modified with CpTI was considered to have no maternal toxicity, embryotoxicity and teratogenicity effects.