A thirteen week ad libitum administration toxicity study of tartrazine in Swiss mice

Tartrazine is a colorant widely used in food products, drugs and cosmetics. The current study evaluates the effect of sub-chronic ingestion of tartrazine in drinking water at doses of 0, 0.1, 0.45, 1 and 2.5% for 13 weeks in mice. Our results show that female body weight gain and food consumption decreased in all treated groups, while fluid consumption increased. The red blood cell count, hemoglobin and hematocrit were increased in male 2.5% treated groups and the white blood cell count decreased in all treated groups. In both sexes of the 2.5% doses groups, total proteins, albumin, creatinine, urea, uric acid, total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and transaminases were higher. Histological examinations showed brain, liver and kidney damages in animals treated with 1 and 2.5% doses. We concluded that at doses of 1 and 2.5% in drinking water, tartrazine induces weight depression and adverse effects on brain, liver and kidney. Keywords: Tartrazine, subchronic toxicity, hematology, biochemical parameters, histology. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(28), pp. 4519-4529