TY - JOUR
T1 - Food emulsifiers increase toxicity of food contaminants in three human GI tract cell lines
AU - Wu, Margaret MH.
AU - Liao, Baoshan
AU - Xia, Ivan Fan
AU - Luk, Peter KH.
AU - Wong, Ka-hing
AU - Kwok, Kevin WH.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - Food products simultaneously containing both food contaminants and emulsifiers are common in baked products, coffee and chocolate. Little is known regarding how food contaminants and emulsifiers interact and alter toxicity. Recent studies have shown that while emulsifiers themselves have little toxicity, they could cause changes in the gut microenvironment and lead to issues such as increased uptake of allergens. This study examined toxic effect of two common process contaminants acrylamide (AA) and benzo [a]pyrene (BAP) combined with food emulsifiers polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (TW) or glycerol monostearate (G). In liver cell line HepG2 and gastrointestinal cell lines HIEC6 and Caco-2, toxicities of AA and BAP were increased by TW but not by G as indicated by decrease in IC50 values. Addition of TW also exacerbated gene expression changes caused by AA or BAP. Cellular uptake and cell membrane permeability were enhanced by TW but not by G, but tight junction proteins of Caco-2 monolayer was impacted by both emulsifiers. These results suggested that TW could increase toxicity of AA and BAP through increasing cell permeability thus chemical uptake and potentially through other interactions. The study is to draw the attention of regulators on the potential synergistic interaction of co-occurring chemicals in food. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd
AB - Food products simultaneously containing both food contaminants and emulsifiers are common in baked products, coffee and chocolate. Little is known regarding how food contaminants and emulsifiers interact and alter toxicity. Recent studies have shown that while emulsifiers themselves have little toxicity, they could cause changes in the gut microenvironment and lead to issues such as increased uptake of allergens. This study examined toxic effect of two common process contaminants acrylamide (AA) and benzo [a]pyrene (BAP) combined with food emulsifiers polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (TW) or glycerol monostearate (G). In liver cell line HepG2 and gastrointestinal cell lines HIEC6 and Caco-2, toxicities of AA and BAP were increased by TW but not by G as indicated by decrease in IC50 values. Addition of TW also exacerbated gene expression changes caused by AA or BAP. Cellular uptake and cell membrane permeability were enhanced by TW but not by G, but tight junction proteins of Caco-2 monolayer was impacted by both emulsifiers. These results suggested that TW could increase toxicity of AA and BAP through increasing cell permeability thus chemical uptake and potentially through other interactions. The study is to draw the attention of regulators on the potential synergistic interaction of co-occurring chemicals in food. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd
KW - Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate
KW - Glycerol monostearate
KW - Acrylamide
KW - Benzo[a]pyrene
KW - Liver
KW - Gastrointestinal tract
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183979591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85183979591&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1016/j.fct.2024.114499
DO - 10.1016/j.fct.2024.114499
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
C2 - 38309685
SN - 0278-6915
VL - 185
JO - Food and Chemical Toxicology
JF - Food and Chemical Toxicology
M1 - 114499
ER -