Comparative Hepatic, Pancreatic, and Renal Biochemical Responses to Repeated Oral Exposure to Three Children’s Play Materials in Female Rats: Hepatic RT-qPCR Profiles of Tnf and Nfe2l2
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Children frequently handle soft play materials such as slime-like sand products, play clay, and gel-based compounds, and incidental oral exposure can occur through hand-to-mouth behavior. The present 30-day rat study compared biochemical responses to three play-material categories administered orally at 150 mg/kg/day. Female albino rats of approximately 250 g were assigned to a negative control group (G), sand/slime material group (C), clay group (D), and jelly/gel group (E). Serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lipase, amylase, creatinine, albumin, and urea were assessed. The exposure groups showed clearly different biochemical signatures. The sand/slime material produced the highest ALP and lipase means, whereas the clay group produced the highest urea mean. ALT and AST were lower in all exposed groups than in controls, indicating that the response cannot be summarized as conventional hepatocellular enzyme leakage. Albumin was reduced most clearly in the sand/slime and gel groups. These findings indicate material-specific systemic biochemical responses after repeated oral exposure and emphasize the need to interpret the panel as a pattern rather than labeling all deviations as organ injury. The study provides a basis for targeted chemical characterization of the tested products and confirmatory toxicological work. Hepatic RT-qPCR profiling showed Tnf relative expression of 1.00 ± 0.10, 2.80 ± 0.30, 2.10 ± 0.25, and 2.55 ± 0.28-fold in groups G, C, D, and E, respectively, while Nfe2l2 expression was 1.00 ± 0.11, 0.62 ± 0.08, 1.38 ± 0.16, and 0.70 ± 0.09-fold, respectively.
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