Assessment of Atherogenic Indices and Markers of Cardiac Injury in Albino Rats Orally Administered with Tartrazine Azo Dye

Aim: Assess the effect of tartrazine azo dye on atherogenic indices and markers of cardiac injury in albino rats.

Study Design: A total number of 63 rats were used for the study. The study was divided into two phases, 1 and 2, which lasted for 30 and 60 days respectively. Phase 1 had 35 rats, 20 as test and 15 as control, while phase 2 had 28 rats, 16 as test and 12 as control. In each phase the test groups were given 7.5mg/kg of tartrazine orally on daily basis over the stipulated period while the control groups were not treated with tartrazine.

Methodology: At the end of the study, 5ml of whole blood was collected from the jugular veins into Lithium Heparin bottles. The sample was spun, plasma collected and analyzed for cardiac Troponin I (cTn-I) and cardiac Troponin T (cTn-T), Total creatinekinase (CK), creatinekinase MM (CK-MM), and creatinekinase MB (CK-MB). Lipid parameters like total cholesterol (TC), High density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and Triglyceride (TG) which were also analysed. Atherogenic indices such as atherogenic coefficient (AC), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), Non High density lipoprotein-cholesterol (nHDL-C), and castelli risk indices 1 and 2 (CRI-1 and CRI-2) were also calculated. In addition, cardiac tissues were collected, fixed in 10% formol saline and examined histologically using Haematoxylin and Eosin stain. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism version 8.02.

Results: The results obtained indicate significant increases in nHDL-C, total CK and cTn-T after 30 and 60 days of treatment with tartrazine at ADI doses against controls. Other atherogenic indices such as AIP, AC, CRI-1 and CRI-2 as well as markers of cardiac injury such as cTn-I and CK-MB indicated non-significant increases.

Conclusion: Orally administered tartrazine over a 60 day period induced cardiac injury as shown by the significant increase in the cTn-T and total CK as well as hypertrophied nuclei of cardiomyocytes. This goes to say chronic administration of tartrazine even at the recommended daily dose could pose the risk of cardiovascular disease. This is also supported by an increase in nHDL cholesterol.