Global Toxicology 2020: Food grade titanium dioxide (E171) induces systemic toxicity in mice fed with a high fat diet - Medina-Reyes EI1, UNAM. Mexico

Extended Abstract

Medina Reyes

Abstract

Food-grade titanium dioxide (E171) is used as additive in food products for human consumption since 1960. Recently, it was demonstrated that intragastric E171 administration enhanced colon tumor formation in experimental models and induced histological alterations in testis. This rises further concerns of E171 as a possible trigger or synergistic diet component of pathologies. Regarding to diet, the increased fat intake jumped 22.8% from 1993 to 2013 worldwide and together with the E171 as a facilitator of colon tumor formation, brings the hypothesis of exacerbated toxicity induced by E171 after oral consumption in mice fed with a high fat diet (HFD). This work aimed to evaluate the toxicity in colon, liver and testis induced by oral administration of 5 mg/kgbw E171 in mice fed with HFD for 16 weeks. Results demonstrated that mice fed with regular diet + E171 and mice fed with a HFD had higher number of adenomas, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of goblet cells and deregulation in mucin expression in colon. However, colon alterations were not exacerbated in mice fed with HFD + E171. HFD induced macrovesicular steatosis in the liver and mice fed with HFD + E171 had microvesicular steatosis which has a worse clinical prognosis. HFD mice and HFD + E171 mice had disruption of testis architecture and decrease in spermatozoa concentration and motility in the same extent. We conclude that E171 and HFD induced severe toxicity in colon and testis in the same extent but liver steatosis is exacerbated by combination of HFD + E171 administration.

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