During the administration period, animals were housed in polycarbonate cages and observed for general appearance and weighed once daily. Food consumption was measured twice a week and on the day of autopsy. On the autopsy day, the rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital, and blood samples were collected from abdominal aorta. One blood sample was treated with EDTA-2K and analyzed for hematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin

(HB), lymphocytes (LYMPH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), platelet large-cell ratio (P-LCR), platelet count (PLT), red blood cells

(RBC), red blood cell distribution width (RDW), white TAM Receptor inhibitor blood cells (WBC). One blood sample was treated with non-heparinized vacutainer tube, and the plasma was separated by centrifugation Ku0059436 at 700 × g for 10 min. The following plasma clinical chemistry parameters were evaluated: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), calcium (Ca), cholesterol (CHO), chloride (Cl), creatinine (CRE), glucose (GLU), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), inorganic phosphorus (P), triglyceride (TG). At the end of the treatment period, animals were exsanguinated and organs and tissues were observed macroscopically. Organ weights were obtained for the liver, kidney, heart, spleen, lung, adrenal gland, epididymis, testis, uterus, and ovary, and the relative organ weights were determined based on terminal body weight. The relative organ weights Adenylyl cyclase were calculated as follows: Relative organ weight = Absolute organ weight

(g) /Body weight (g) × 100% For the histological examination, all organs and tissues except for lung were fixed in 10% formalin, dehydrated with varying grades of alcohol, embedded in paraffin wax, cut into standard thick sections and stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) dye for microscopic observation. The histological preparations from animals in the control and high-dose (5000 mg/kg) groups were examined. For SPSS statistical analysis, all the data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett’s test or the Mann-Whitney test. Significant differences were indicated as p < 0.05. Further linear regression (R and other values) was used to evaluate dose-response relationships via SPSS software. The genotypes of the bacterial strains used in this study included S. typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA102, TA1535, and TA1537. A mutagenic response was considered positive if the average number of revertant colonies in test groups of the above strains was twice the number in the negative (control) groups ( OECD, test No. 471, 1997).