Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase Activity in Kids Born from Goats Fed Genetically Modified Soybean

The majority of animal feeding trials using GM feeds indicated no clinical effects while as concerns histopathological abnormalities in organs or tissues of exposed animals, the results are conflicting. Several data indicate liver and kidney problems as end points of GM diet effects. In rabbit fed GM soybean, it was hypothesised that cell metabolism of several enzymes was altered as well as elevated levels of LDH were revealed in tissues and organs of kids when mothers are fed GM soybean. The objective of this study was to investigate the fate of transgenic DNA and the activity of gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) in blood, liver and kidney from kids fed only milk of their mother fed conventional (control) or genetically modified soybean meal solvent extract (treated). PCR analysis revealed that fragments of multicopy chloroplast (trnL) and single soybean-specific (lectin) gene were found in samples of both groups. Fragments of transgenic gene were found only in treated kids: detection of 35S promoter was significant in liver, kidney and blood, and detection of CP4 epsps gene fragment was significant in liver and kidney. Concerning GGT, no differences were found in serum, while its activity was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in kidney (63.4 ± 7.8 vs 81.2 ± 11.3 u/g of tissue) and liver (40.1 ± 5.2 vs 62.6 ± 9.8 u/g of tissue) of kids from treated goats. The increase in GGT activity was confirmed by histochemistry.