EFFECTS OF CLONED CATTLE MEAT POWDER ON REPRODUCTIVE AND DEVELOPMENTAL PARAMETERS IN F0 & F1 RATS

Abstract

Recent experiments revealed that the compositions of milk and meat produced from clones were not different from those of normal comparators. However, the effect of the diets containing cloned animal meat upon reproductive and developmental toxicity was rarely studied. This study was performed to analyze reproductive and developmental parameters in rats fed with meat-based diets from either normal or cloned Korean native beef cattle (Hanwoo). The rats were fed with the diets containing 5 or 10% of normal (N-5 & N-10) or cloned (C-5 & C-10) cattle meat powder during test periods, respectively. The reproductive and developmental parameters were measured in F0 or F1 rats. No signs of detrimental toxicology on estrus cycle, implantation and embryo resorption rate, and delivery in F0 dams fed with or without meat-based diets. The food consumption in meat-based diet groups was significantly reduced at 0–3 days and 17–20 days of gestation period, especially in N-10 & C-10 group (p<0.001) compared to that of control. The F1 female rats showed similar reproductive parameters of mating and pregnancy rate, numbers of corpus lutea, and implantation and embryo resorption rate in both treatment groups. The differences were not significant on weight of epididymis and testis, sperm motility, the number of epididymal and testicular sperm, and concentration of testosterone in all F1 male groups, except for the less sperm deformity in caudal epididymis in C-5 group (p<0.05) and the higher testosterone level in C-10 group (p<0.05) compared to control. Our results lead us to conclude that there is no obvious toxicology in the reproductive and developmental parameters in F0 & F1 rats fed with the meat-based diets from SCNT cloned cattle compared to their comparators. (poster)