Evaluation of Toxicological Effects of Tartrazine Food Additive on histomorphic architecture of liver of Wistar Rats

Tartrazine is an artificial orange‐colored azo dye, it is a water soluble powder widely used in food products, drugs and cosmetics. Twenty four adult Wistar rats, weighing between 150‐200g, were used in the study to evaluate the toxicological effects of Tartrazine food additive on histomorphology of liver of wistar rats. They were divided into four groups of six animals each designated as groups A, B, C and D. Group A served as Control group and was fed with diet and tap water only during the experimental period of 30days. Groups B, C and D were fed with standard diet and given a solution of Tartrazine at a daily dose of 7.5mg/kgbw, 10mg/kgbw and 12.5mg/kgbw respectively for the same duration. At the end of the experimental period, rats were sacrificed using Chloroform. The liver was dissected out from each group, weighed and processed for histological study. Results showed a decrease in mean body weight gain of the experimental rats as the dose of Tartrazine increases (12% increase (Group B), 6% increase (Group C) and 3% increase (Group D) when compared to the control group of 30%). The relative weight of liver of the experimental groups also increase with increase in the dose of tartrazine (2.32±0.3, 2.50±0.17 and 2.80±0.20 for groups B, C and D respectively). The increase was significant in group D when compared with the control group (p<0.05). Histologically, the liver architecture in group D showed mild inflammation, cellular infiltrations and moderate fatty changes while that of groups A, B and C appear normal. This showed that tartrazine, a food additive is capable of causing liver damage at a high concentration or after a chronic consumption