THE BARCELONA STUDY 2 (TROCHO REPORT)
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Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds
to tissue components in vivo.
Life Sci. 1998;63(5):337-49
Trocho C,
Pardo R,
Rafecas I,
Virgili J,
Remesar X,
Fernandez-Lopez
JA, Alemany M.
Departament de Bioquimica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Biologia,
Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
Adult
male rats were given an oral dose of 10 mg/kg aspartame 14C-labelled in
the methanol carbon. At timed intervals of up to 6 hours, the radioactivity
in plasma and several organs was investigated. Most of the radioactivity
found (>98% in plasma, >75% in liver) was bound to protein. Label
present in liver, plasma and kidney was in the range of 1-2% of total radioactivity
administered per g or mL, changing little with time. Other organs (brown
and white adipose tissues, muscle, brain, cornea and retina) contained
levels of label in the range of 1/12 to 1/10th of that of liver. In all,
the rat retained, 6 hours after administration about 5% of the label, half
of it in the liver. The specific radioactivity of tissue protein, RNA and
DNA was quite uniform. The protein label was concentrated in amino acids,
different from methionine, and largely coincident with the result of protein
exposure to labelled formaldehyde. DNA radioactivity was essentially in
a single different adduct base, different from the normal bases present
in DNA. The nature of the tissue label accumulated was, thus, a direct
consequence of formaldehyde binding to tissue structures. The administration
of labelled aspartame to a group of cirrhotic rats resulted in comparable
label retention by tissue components, which suggests that liver function
(or its defect) has little effect on formaldehyde formation from aspartame
and binding to biological components. The chronic treatment of a series
of rats with 200 mg/kg of non-labelled aspartame during 10 days resulted
in the accumulation of even more label when given the radioactive bolus,
suggesting that the amount of formaldehyde adducts coming from aspartame
in tissue proteins and nucleic acids may be cumulative. It is concluded
that aspartame consumption may constitute a hazard because of its contribution
to the formation of formaldehyde adducts.
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