Oxidative stress evoked damages on rat sperm and attenuated antioxidant status on consumption of aspartame

Abstract

Although several studies on toxic effect of aspartame metabolite have been studied, controversial reports over the use of aspartame owing to the fact that it releases methanol as one of its metabolite during metabolism exist. This present study is proposed to investigate whether aspartame (40 mg kg b.wt) administration for 90 days could induce oxidative stress and alter antioxidant status of epididymal sperm in Wistar strain male albino rats. To mimic the human methanol metabolism, methotrexate (MTX)-treated rats were included to study the effects of aspartame. Oral intubations of FDA approved 40 mg kg b.wt aspartame were given daily for 90 days to Wistar strain male albino rats and studied along with controls and MTX-treated controls. Sperm count, viability, morphology, morphometry and motility were assessed. A significant decrease in sperm function of aspartame treated animals was observed when compared with the control and MTX control. The free radical generation were observed in epididymal sperm by assessing the scavenging enzymes, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Result suggest that there was a significant increase glutathione-s-transferase (GST), with a significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase activity (SOD), glutathione peroxidase levels (GPx), catalase activity (CAT) and glutathione reductase concentration. The increase in free radicals generation could have ultimately caused the lipid peroxidation mediated damages on the testis. Aspartame treated animals also revealed the reduced space in seminiferous tubules, which resulted in reduced Leydig cells when compared with control in histopathology. These findings demonstrate that aspartame metabolites could be a contributing factor for development of oxidative stress in the epididymal sperm.

Monosodium Glutamate Induced Oxidative Stress in Accessory Reproductive Organs of Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

“…The MDA and pC are an important indicator of oxidative damage to macromolecules such as lipid and protein, respectively (Alghasham et al 2013 MSG increased the level of MDA and pC in epididymis and prostate gland. Administration of aspartame, an artificial sweetener used in the food was found to cause increased in MDA level of sperm due to the increased formation of ROS (Ashok et al 2017). furthermore, the excessive intake of MSG leads to the increased of glutamate level in circulation.…”

Non-Caloric Artificial Sweeteners Modulate the Expression of Key Metabolic Genes in the Omnipresent Gut Microbe <b><i>Escherichia coli</i></b>

“…Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sucrose [Magnuson et al, 2007] and consists of phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol [Humphries et al, 2008]. While there are studies that report beneficial roles of aspartame [Tordoff and Alleva, 1990;Blackburn et al, 1997;Raben et al, 2002;De la Hunty et al, 2006], others suggest it as a cause of different ailments, like headache [Lipton et al, 1989], vestibulocochlear toxicity [Pisarik and Kai, 2009], oxidative stress [Ashok et al, 2017], and even cancer [Soffritti et al, 2005;Pandurangan et al, 2016]. Some studies in recent years have reported that artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, change the composition of gut microbiota and induce glucose intolerance [Bokulich and Blaser, 2014;Palmnäs et al, 2014;Suez et al, 2014Suez et al, , 2015.…”

Evaluation of long‐term effects of artificial sweeteners on rat brain: a biochemical, behavioral, and histological study

“…Among these metabolites, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and then into formate, accompanied by the formation of superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide. It has been suggested that both aspartate and methanol may have deleterious effects on the nervous system by inducing the oxidative stress . Sucralose is synthesized from sucrose by substituting three hydroxyl groups of sucrose with chlorine atoms.…”