| 3-month gavage study |
Subchronic (30-90 days) |
Thirty male Wistar rats at 4 weeks old, weighing 48.6±3.8 g and obtained from the University of Yangzhou, China, were used in the study. The rats were housed in the laboratory in a temperature-controlled room (22±1 °C), with light from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The humidity was maintained at 50 ±5 %. The rats were kept in the laboratory for suitable feeding for 2 weeks before the experiment. Food and tap water (NaF< 0.07 ppm) were freely available during the entire experiment. All the experiments were in accordance with both the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (USA) and the Ethical Principles for Animal Experimentation as established by the Ethics Committee on Animal Experiments from the Xuzhou Medical College, Jiangsu Province, China. |