الفهرس 
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Abstract
F
ood additives and preservatives have been used for thousands of years. In industrialized nations, the last 50 years have seen a significant increase in the number of preservatives and additives introduced to foods before they go to market. The growth in the use of food additives has increased enormously in the past 30 years, totalling over 200,000 tonnes per year, which means that each person is consuming on average 3.6-4.5 kg of food additives per year. With the great increase in the use of food additives, there also has emerged considerable scientific data linking food additive intolerance with various physical and mental disorders, particularly with childhood hyperactivity and hypersensitivity
The colour of food products is extremely important because it influences directly the perception of both the flavour and quality of a food product and improves its sensory properties, especially when processed food loses an attractive appearance due to high temperature or enzymatic modification.
Synthetic food colorants are one of the major groups of food additives. Erythrosine/ E 127/ Red No. 3 (ErB) is a cherry-pink coal tar-based food dye. It has been found to cause all possible clinical forms of allergic reactions, sensitivity to light and also learning difficulties, increase thyroid hormone levels and lead to hyperthyroidism. The lipid soluble formulations of erythrosine were banned because of the increased incidence of thyroid tumors in male rats fed this dye. Water-soluble derivatives of erythrosine are permitted in foods and oral medications because the gastrointestinal absorption of these compounds is very low.
Erythrosine has been found to act as a potent neurocompetitive dopamine inhibitor of dopamine uptake by nerve endings when exposed in vitro on a rat brain. Also it can act as an inhibitor also on other neurotransmitters, resulting in an increased concentration of neurotransmitters near the receptors, thus functionally augmenting the synaptic neurotransmission. There is some evidence that a reduced dopamine turnover may lead to childhood hyperactivity. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether prolonged administration of the artificial dye ErB has a significant effect on the levels of different types of neurotransmitters.
This prospective study was conducted on 45 male Albino strain rats (120 – 150 ± 2g, 10 weeks age). from animal house at Medical Research Center (MRC). Rats were divided equally into three groups (control, treated groups with low dose of ErB 0.08g/kg diet and high dose of ErB 0.4g/kg diet groups) for oral administration with ErB daily for 90 days. Samples were collected for determination of neurotransmitter (Dopamine, gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), Norepinephrine (NE), serotonin and Glutamate), reduced glutathione (GSH), malonadialdehyde (MDA) and Acetyl choline esterase (AchE).
Results revealed that:
Significant decrease (p˂0.01) was obtained in Dopamine, gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), Nor epinephrine (NE), Acetyl choline esterase (AchE), glutathione reductase (GSH) and serotonin when treated with low and high dose ErB compared with the control group. Significant increase (p˂0.01) in MDA and Glutamate in low and high dose that may explain the abnormal behaviour of treated rats.
There was a strong positive correlation between dopamine with both nor adrenaline and GABA and between GABA with both serotonin, nor epinephrine & dopamine (r= 0.612 – 0.750). In addition, there was also a highly significant correlation between serotonin with both AchE and GSH as well as GSH and GABA with AchE (r= 0.651 – 0.819).
There was a reverse correlation in high & low dose of ErB between the level of, dopamine, NE, serotonin, AchE, GABA and GSH corresponding by the level of MDA (r=0.58-0.72). Also a reverse correlation coefficient was recorded between GABA & glutamate at high & low dose of ErB where the level of GABA decreased and the level of glutamate increased.
CONCLUSION
F
inally, it could be concluded that administration of this food dye resulted in various alterations of antioxidant system and neurotransmitter imbalance which lead to numerous neurotoxic effect. Therefore, it is advisable to limit the use of these food colorant or food additives especially those used for children.
Harmful exposure to food additives like as ErB, may lead to neurological disorders. Therefore, it has been suggested that further investigations are required to find the dual neuroprotective–neurotoxic mechanisms of ErB.