Aspartame-Induced Mitochondrial DNA Damage in Drosophila

Abstract

Artificial sweeteners are added to many products sold in the market today, such as food, beverages, medicines, hygiene products. The possible toxic effects of any of these products, because they are used by many people in the community, can pose a risk for public health. DNA mutations generated by some artificial sweeteners have been investigated by some researchers but there is no information in the literature about the effects of these substances on mtDNA. mtDNA damage potentially is more important than deletions in nDNA because the whole mitochondrial genome is expressed without intron regions. Also, somatic mtDNA mutations have been increasingly observed in primary human cancers. The aim of the current study, detection of the effects of some artificial sweeteners on mtDNA damage and copy number in Drosophila melanogaster. The Quantitative PCR method was used for this purpose. According to our results, Aspartame created statistically significant mtDNA damage. There was no mtDNA damage in Saccharine+Cyclamate, Saccharine, Aceculfam K and Sucralose application groups. These results indicate that the effects of aspartame in human should carefully detect.

Keywords

• mtDNA damage,Aspartame,Saccharine,Acesulfam K,Sucralose,Cyclamate

Drosophila’da Aspartam Tarafından Oluşturulan Mitokondrial DNA Hasarı

Abstract

Yapay tatlandırıcılar çok çeşitli yiyecek, içecek, ilaç ve hijyen ürünlerine eklenir. Bu ürünlerin herhangi birinin toksik etkilerinin olması, toplumdaki birçok insan tarafından kullanıldığı için, halk sağlığı açısından risk oluşturabilir. Bazı yapay tatlandırıcıların nüklear DNA üzerindeki etkileri araştırılmış, ancak bu maddelerin mtDNA üzerindeki etkileri hakkında herhangi bir çalışmaya literatürde rastlanmamıştır. Mitokondrial genomdaki tüm bölgeler ifade edildiğinden, mtDNA’daki mutasyonlar, nDNA’daki delesyonlardan potansiyel olarak daha önemli olabilir. Ayrıca, primer insan kanserlerinde somatik mtDNA mutasyonları gittikçe artan bir şekilde gözlenmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, bazı yapay tatlandırıcıların mtDNA hasarı ve kopya sayısına etkilerinin Drosophila melanogaster’de saptanmasıdır. Bu amaçla kantitatif PCR yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Sonuçlarımıza göre, Aspartam istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede mtDNA hasarı oluşturmuştur. Sakkarin + Siklamat, Sakkarin, Asesulfam K ve Sukraloz uygulama gruplarında ise mtDNA hasarı saptanmamıştır. Bu sonuçlar, Aspartamın insanlar üzerinde yapabileceği olası etkilerinin dikkatle saptanması gerektiğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

• mtDNA hasarı,Aspartam,Sakkarin,Asesulfam K,Sukraloz,Siklamat

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