Background: Tartrazine is one of the azo dyes that are the most common artificial food colors widely used in many food products. Tartrazine is used in many developing countries without strict regulations.
Aim of the study: to investigate the effect of tartrazine on the gastric mucosa and to evaluate the possible role of recovery after its withdrawal with or without riboflavin in rat.
Materials and Methods: Twenty-four adult male albino rats were equally divided into 4 groups; Control, riboflavin, tartrazine-treated group (orally administered 200 mg/kg/day tartrazine for 60 days), tartrazine-recovery group (orally administered 200 mg/kg/day tartrazine for 60 days then left without treatment for another 60 days) and tartrazine-recovery and riboflavin group (that were orally administered tartrazine for 60 days then stopped and followed with riboflavin for another 60 days). Glandular stomach specimens were processed for histological and immunohistochemical techniques.
Results: Tartrazine-treated group depicted variable degrees of mucosal lesions with significant decrease in its thickness. Parietal cells with vacuolated cytoplasm and irregular nuclei, and vacuolated chief cells with pyknotic nuclei were detected. Dilated congested blood vessels and aggregated mononuclear cells were observed. Ultrastructural examination showed parietal and chief cells with condensed nuclei and dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum. Tartrazine-recovery group showed almost intact gastric mucosa. Tartrazine-recovery with riboflavin group showed a near normal gastric mucosa. Both Ki67 and iNOS-immunohistochemical expression showed a statistically significant increase upon tartrazine administration coupling to a significant decrease in Periodic-Acid-Schiff expression. Tartrazine-recovery group still revealed significant differences in these parameters compared to the control, while tartrazine-recovery with riboflavin showed non-significant differences from the control.
Conclusion: Tartrazine affected the stomach and was alleviated by stopping it. Combined recovery along with riboflavin was more efficient on the recovery of gastric mucosa.