Reproductive safety evaluation of L-Ergothioneine.

L-Ergothioneine is a naturally occurring histidine-derived betaine (CAS No: 497-30-3) synthesized by bacteria and fungi, and found ubiquitously in plants and animals. It is present in many human foodstuffs. We evaluated the potential reproductive toxicity of L-Ergothioneine in Sprague-Dawley rats. L-Ergothioneine was administered at concentrations of 0.1, 0.3 or 0.9% in diet to F0 males (for 10 weeks before pairing and 3 weeks during pairing) and F0 females (for 13 weeks before pairing, during pairing and gestation, and until day 5 of lactation). Systemic exposure increased with dose-level, but not dose proportionally, suggesting saturation of uptake mechanisms. No clinical signs of toxicity were observed and there were no effects of L-Ergothioneine treatment on mating and reproductive performance or parameters of fertility. All animals mated within a similar number of days and pregnancy rates were uniformly high in control and treated groups. There were no effects of treatment with L-Ergothioneine on the duration of gestation, pre- and post-implantation losses, number of pups delivered and viability index, or on litter parameters (litter size, clinical signs, body weight or sex ratio) and the repartition of found dead/cannibalized pups. In conclusion, L-Ergothioneine was well tolerated and without adverse effects on the reproductive parameters evaluated.

Simultaneous speciation of selenomethionine and 2-hydroxy-4-methylselenobutanoic acid by HPLC-ICP MS in biological samples.

An analytical method was developed for the simultaneous speciation of selenomethionine (SeMet) and 2-hydroxy-4-methylselenobutanoic acid (NutraSelen), a new SeMet precursor. The compounds could be baseline resolved by ion-pairing reversed-phase HPLC using ICP MS detection. Detection limits of 1 ng mL(-1) (Se content) could be reached. SELM-1 reference material was used to validate the SeMet measurement. Additionally, the quantification of NutraSelen was validated by standard addition together with checking the Se mass balance. The procedure developed was then applied to the monitoring of the conversion of NutraSelen into SeMet by yeast.