Toxicity Study of Red Ginseng Acidic Polysaccharide (RGAP) : Single and 2-week Repeated Oral Dose Toxicity Study in Rats

The present study was conducted to investigate the single and 2-week repeated dose toxicity of red ginseng acidic polysaccharide (RGAP) in Sprague-Dawley rats. The test article was administered orally to rats at dose levels of 0, and 2000 mg/kg/day for single dose toxicity study and at dose levels of 0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg/day for repeated dose toxicity study. In both studies, there were no treatment-related effects on mortality, clinical signs, food and water consumption, ophthalmoscopy, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, necropsy findings and organ weights of all animals treated RGAP. Based on these results, it was concluded that the 2-week repeated oral dose of RGAP may have no toxic effect in rats at a dose level of 1000 mg/kg/day. In the condition of this study, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) was considered to be 1000 mg/kg/day for both sexes.