Preliminary safety assessment of Yarrowia lipolytica extracellular lipase: Results of acute and 28-day repeated dose oral toxicity studies in rats

Interest in extracellular lipase sourced from the non conventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica has increased over the last decade. The enzyme was recently suggested as a good candidate for pancreatic exocrine insufficiency treatment. However, there is still a lack of oral safety evaluation data. In this work, we conducted acute and 28-day repeated dose toxicity studies in rats. Both male and female rats were first orally treated with fungal lipase at either single or repeated doses. The results demonstrated that neither single dose nor chronic administration of lipase was associated with mortality or abnormalities in general conditions, behavior and growth. Except a decrease in urine pH and a dose-unrelated increase of triglycerides observed in males, chronic administration of lipase resulted in similar hematological, blood biochemical and urine parameters to those of untreated animals. Minor histopathological changes were observed in lungs and livers of treated and untreated animals but they were considered of no toxicological significance. This study provides, for the first time, safety data on Yarrowia lipolytica extracellular lipase that support its use as a pharmaceutical.