Ovarian Toxicity and Oxidative Stress Induced by Food Colors in Albino Rats

Food colors have been in use since long to restore the original food appearance. The azo dyes tartrazine, metanil yellow and sunset yellow are used in different food items for coloring purpose. The great increase in the use of these food colors led to cause adverse effects in different body organs. A blend of two or more dyes may produce an altogether different response. So the present study was conducted to evaluate ovarian toxicity of blend of these food colors in female rats. Swiss albino rats were divided into four groups, each group having six animals. Group I served as control, Group II, Group III and Group IV were administered with 25, 50 and 75 mg per kg body weight of food colors for 30 days. The calculated dose of blend was mixed with the rat feed and was given daily at a fix time in morning during the entire experimental tenure. The body weight of albino rats was recorded weekly. The ovary from each animal was weighed, serially sectioned and observed for follicular studies. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT) as well as the level of malondialdehyde were accessed in the ovarian tissue. The dye at all the doses caused increase in body weight but a significant decrease in net and relative weight of ovaries. The dye caused increase in malondialdehyde level in ovarian tissue. Significantly lowered levels of SOD, reduced GSH and CAT in ovarian tissue of treated animals were observed when compared with control animals. Histologically the dye caused a profound damage to the complete ovarian architecture. The result indicates that consumption of food color in diet induces reproductive toxicity so indiscriminate use of colors in food products is likely a threat to fecundity rate of experimental animals.