Morphometrical Indices of Cecum Crypts in Rats Under Influence of Food Additive Complex

Abstract

Due to the widespread use of various food additives, concerns about their potential harm to the human health and their safety of approved daily intake levels in food products are increasing. One area of debate is the impact of food additives on the gastrointestinal mucous membrane. Experimental evidence has shown that the consumption of certain food additives, even within acceptable doses, can exacerbate inflammatory processes and contribute to carcinogenesis in individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases. Evaluating the functions of intestinal digestion and absorption requires considering criteria such as the number of crypts in the intestinal mucosa, their depth, structure, and the degree of cellular infiltration. Previous studies have established that the type of food and the presence of certain substances in the diet can affect the depth of crypts, the proliferative activity of crypt cells, and the number of goblet cells in the large intestine. In this study, the dynamic changes in the cecum crypt metrics of rats were analyzed over a period of 16 weeks under the influence of a complex food additive including monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, and ponceau 4R.
 The rats of the experimental group, with access to water ad libitum, were administered with 0,6 mg/kg sodium nitrite, 20 mg/kg monosodium glutamate and 5 mg/kg ponceau 4R in 0.5 ml of distilled water once daily orally. The control group of rats (n=14) had access to drinking water without any additives and received oral saline administration. Collection of samples for histological examination was carried out at 1, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks.
 The morphometric parameters analyzed included the number of crypts in the field of view, their depth, outer diameter, lumen diameter, and the height of epitheliocytes. The results showed that the morphometric parameters of the cecum crypts in rats changed depending on the duration of exposure to the food additive complex of monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, and ponceau 4R. The changes observed in the crypt structure and number indicated a significant detrimental effect of the food additive complex on the cecum mucous membrane in rats during the early stages of the experiment.
 There was an incomplete recovery of the cecum crypts number and structures in the later stages of the experiment; however it occurred in the context of destructive and inflammatory changes in the mucous membrane.