DNA Damage Induced by Tartrazine in rat whole blood using Comet Assay (Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis)

Tartrazine is an orange-colored, water soluble powder widely used in food products, drugs and cosmetics. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) oh human is 0-7.5 mg/kg body weight. The objective of our study was to examine the genotoxic effect of different Tartrazine concentrations of fresh whole blood cells; by using alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE), also called the comet assay. This method is widely used for detecting initial DNA damage in individual cells. To evaluate the Tartrazine toxicity we use different concentrations Tartrazine with control test. Blood cells were 1-hr pre-treated with Tartrazine at dose range 03-25 mM. Comet images of at least 50 cells per slide of each treatment were randomly analysed using fluorescence microscope and computer equipped with comet assay software. The toxicity was determined based upon Olive Tail Moment (OTM), percentage of DNA in the Tail (DT), Tail Moment (TM) and the Tail Length (TL) parameters. Our results suggest that Tartrazine can be genotoxic over a range of concentrations in whole blood cells.