Inflammation and Neurochemical Alterations Induced by Oral Aspartame Administration in Experimental Rats

Abstract

The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of repeated oral administration of aspartame (in a daily acceptable dose 40mg/kg body weight) for 2, 4 and 6 weeks on oxidative stress and inflammation in brain tissue of rats . For this purpose, thirty six healthy adult wistar albino rats were divided into two groups; Group1 (control group), Group 2 (aspartame group ): consisted of 18 animals were subdivided into three subgroups (6 pereach) ; subgroup A, subgroup B and subgroupC, orally administrated aspartame (40mg/kg body weight) daily for 2,4and 6 weeks ,respectively. Results showed that daily aspartame administration in a dose (40mg/kg body weight daily) for 4 and 6 weeks induced oxidative stress in rat's brain which was indicated by the significant increment in proteincarbonyl content in association with significant decrease in reduced glutathione concentration (p<0.05). Also, there was a significant increase in brain interleukin-1 IL-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production which accompanied with a significant decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) and serotonin levels in aspartame –treated rats for 6 weeks compared to 4 and 2 weeks intervals and their corresponding control rats (p <0.05). Acetyl choline esterase (AchE) activity was significantly decreased which accompanied by a significant increase in acetylcholine (Ach) concentration in brain homogenates in aspartame administrated groups for 4 and 6 weeks. It was concluded that repeated oral administration of aspartame induce neurotoxicity which progress with increasing cumulative doses of aspartame.