Tartrazine is a synthetic organic azo dye widely used in food and pharmaceutical products. The current study aimed to evaluate the possible adverse effect of this coloring food additive on renal and hepatic structures and functions. Also, the genotoxic potential of tartrazine on white blood cells was investigated using comet assay. Twenty adult male Wistar rats were grouped into two groups of 10 each, control- and tartrazine-treated groups. The control group was administered orally with water alone. The experimental group was administered orally with tartrazine (7.5 mg/kg, b.wt.). Our results showed a marked increase in the levels of ALT, AST, ALP, urea, uric acid, creatinine, MDA and NO, and a decreased level of total antioxidants in the serum of rats dosed with tartrazine compared to controls. On the other hand, administration of tartrazine was associated with severe histopathological and cellular alterations of rat liver and kidney tissues and induced DNA damage in leucocytes as detected by comet assay. Taken together, the results showed that tartrazine intake may lead to adverse health effects.

Abstract-Three kinds of energy drinks (Power horse, Red bull and Code red) were used to study their histological, ultrastructural and physiological effects on Wistar albino rat liver. Forty male Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups. Group 1 was the control, while Groups 2, 3 and 4 were each orally administered with a type of the energy drinks daily for 4 weeks. After two and four weeks of treatment, five animals from each group were killed and dissected. The liver was removed, cut and fixed quickly to carry out light and electron microscopic preparations. Blood samples were collected from each rat via Cardiac puncture method for enzyme determination. The histopathological and ultrastructural results indicated mild hepatotoxicity of Power horse, Red bull and Code red. The alterations in liver ultrastructure were almost similar to each other; however the necrotic areas and the pyknotic nuclei were more obvious in Power horse and Red bull than that of Code red. Moreover, the present study showed that the energy drinks induced an elevation of liver enzymes AST, ALT and ALP after two and four weeks of treatment. The data illustrated that power horse was more effective in its action on liver enzymes, followed by red bull and to less extend code red. The different action of the energy drinks on liver function could be attributed to the different mixture of their ingredients.

Studies on the adverse health effects caused by azo dyes are insufficient and quite contradictory. This work aims to investigate the possible toxic effect of two types of widely used food additives, Sunset Yellow and Allura Red, by assessing the physiological, histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the liver and kidney. Also, we investigated the genotoxic effect of both dyes on white blood cells. Thirty adult male albino rats were divided into three groups of 10 animals each: control (received water), Sunset Yellow-treated (2.5 mg/kg body weight) and Allura Red-treated (seven mg/kg body weight). The doses were orally applied for 4 weeks. Our results indicated an increase in the biochemical markers of hepatic and renal function (Aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, urea, uric acid and creatinine) in animals administered with the azo dyes. We also observed a noticeable increase in MDA and a marked decrease in total antioxidant levels in azo dye-treated animals compared to controls. Conversely, both dyes adversely affected the liver and kidney of albino rats and altered their histological and fine structure, with downregulation of Bcl2 and upregulation of COX2 expression. Our comet assay results showed a significant elevation in the fold change of tail moment in response to application of Sunset Yellow but not Allura Red. Collectively, we show that Sunset Yellow and Allura Red cause histopathological and physiological aberrations in the liver and kidney of male Wistar albino rats. Moreover, Sunset Yellow but not Allura Red induces a potential genotoxic effect.

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