The toxicological effect of dietary excess of saccharicterpenin, the extract of camellia seed meal, in piglets

Recently, saccharicterpenin extracted from Camellia oleifera seed meal has become a widely used feed supplement in animal husbandry. In order to assess its safety, this study was designed to investigate the toxicity and histopathological effects of saccharicterpenin on piglets. One hundred-fifty weaned pigs ((Yorkshire×Landrace)×Duroc), 75 males and 75 females with body weight (BW) of (7.35±0.29) kg, were randomly allotted to groups receiving diets supplemented with 0, 500, 1 000, 2 500 or 5 000 mg kg−1 saccharicterpenin for 70 d. The diet with 500 mg kg−1 saccharicterpenin supplementation improved liver glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity, and the diet with 1 000 mg kg−1 saccharicterpenin supplementation improved liver glutathione S-transferase (GSH-S) activity in piglets on d 70 (P<0.05). At 2 500 mg kg−1, saccharicterpenin in the diets reduced average daily feed intake (ADFI) and average daily gain (ADG) of piglets from d 1 to 35, damaged the cardiac tissue and liver on d 35, and decreased white blood cell counts (WBC), activities of catalase (CAT) and GSH-Px, and concentrations of glucose (GLU) and urea nitrogen (BUN) in the blood of piglets on d 70 (P<0.05). In addition, diets with 5 000 mg kg−1 saccharicterpenin supplementation reduced ADFI, ADG and increased diarrhea rates of piglets from d 36 to 70, and decreased hemoglobin (HGB) concentration and activity of CAT in the blood of piglets on d 70 (P<0.05). Moreover, at a rate of 5 000 mg kg−1, saccharicterpenin supplementation increased pancreas index on d 35 and hepatic index on d 70, and damaged cardiac tissue, liver and spleen during the whole experimental period (P<0.05). These results suggested that dietary 500 mg kg−1 saccharicterpenin supplementation had beneficial effects on piglets, but excessive supplementation (2 500 or 5 000 mg kg−1) of saccharicterpenin in the diets could lead to growth retardation, hematological abnormalities and organ injuries.