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Evaluation of 90-day Repeated Dose Oral Toxicity, Glycometabolism, Learning and Memory Ability, and Related Enzyme of Chromium Malate Supplementation in Sprague-Dawley Rats

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Abstract

Our previous study showed that chromium malate improved the regulation of blood glucose in mice with alloxan-induced diabetes. The present study was designed to evaluate the 90-day oral toxicity of chromium malate in Sprague-Dawley rats. The present study inspected the effect of chromium malate on glycometabolism, glycometabolism-related enzymes, lipid metabolism, and learning and memory ability in metabolically healthy Sprague-Dawley rats. The results showed that all rats survived and pathological, toxic, feces, and urine changes were not observed. Chromium malate did not cause measurable damage on liver, brain, and kidney. The fasting blood glucose, serum insulin, insulin resistance index, C-peptide, hepatic glycogen, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glucokinase, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride levels of normal rats in chromium malate groups had no significant change when compared with control group and chromium picolinate group under physiologically relevant conditions. The serum and organ content of Cr in chromium malate groups had no significant change compared with control group. No significant changes were found in morris water maze test and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and true choline esterase (TChE) activity. The results indicated that supplementation with chromium malate did not cause measurable toxicity and has no obvious effect on glycometabolism and related enzymes, learning and memory ability, and related enzymes and lipid metabolism of female and male rats. The results of this study suggest that chromium malate is safe for human consumption.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported financially by Specialized Research Fund for the Natural Science Foundation of China (31271850), Graduate innovative projects in Jiangsu University (CXLX13_685). We also appreciate Dr. Samuel Jerry Cobbina for language polishing.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there are no competing interests.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

      Weiwei Feng & Qian Li

    2. School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

      Huiyu Wu

    3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

      Zhaoxiang Zhou, Ting Zhao & Liuqing Yang

    4. School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

      Yao Chen, Guanghua Mao & Xiangyang Wu

    5. School of Medical Science and Laboratory Medicine, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

      Yun Feng & Fang Li

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    1. Weiwei Feng
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    Correspondence to Liuqing Yang or Xiangyang Wu.

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    Weiwei Feng and Huiyu Wu contributed equally to this work.

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    Feng, W., Wu, H., Li, Q. et al. Evaluation of 90-day Repeated Dose Oral Toxicity, Glycometabolism, Learning and Memory Ability, and Related Enzyme of Chromium Malate Supplementation in Sprague-Dawley Rats. Biol Trace Elem Res 168, 181–195 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0341-4

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