Erythrosine, a Colour Additive, Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Rats: Histological, Ultrastructural, and Biochemical Studies

The present work was designed to test the toxic impacts exerted by the colour additives erythrosine on the histology, ultrastructure and some serum liver function parameters in male albino rats. Erythrosine in a dose level equals 136 mg/kg bw was given orally to male albino rats for 4, 6 and 8 weeks. This caused time-dependent histological alterations in liver such as cytoplasmic vacuolization of hepatocytes, leucocytic infi ltration and congestion in blood vessels. Ultrastructurally, erythrosine induced changes in the size of mitochondria, reduction in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and nuclear changes in the form of degeneration of the chromatin, variation in the size of nuclear pores and formation of side projections or lateral outgrowths. In addition, erythrosine treatment induced body weight decrease and elevated liver function enzymes, mainly aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in the serum of the treated rats. However, most of these changes subsided after one week of stopping erythrosine treatment.