Changes in the Expression of Cell Surface Markers in Spleen Leukocytes in a Murine Model of Frequent Sucralose Intake

Abstract

Sweeteners are used in many food products like additives. In the last few years, ingestion of both nutritive and non‐nutritive sweeteners (NNS) has considerably increased. In addition, the general population has also increased its NNS intake, without a specific nutritional recommendation for doing so, as opposed to people suffering from non‐communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Chronic intake of these compounds may indirectly affect cellular metabolism. The main defense for the organism is the immune system, in which energy availability has an impact on cellular populations and their activation capacity. For this reason, it is necessary to determine the effect of frequent intake of NNS on the effector capacity of immune cells. The objective of this research is to determine changes in leukocyte populations and their expression of surface markers in the spleen of mice supplemented with commercial sucralose. 14 week‐old BALB/c mice ingested commercial sucralose ad libitum in daily water for 6 weeks. Leukocytes were isolated from spleen and we performed flow cytometry using the surface markers CD3, CD19, CD16 and CD14 for leukocyte subpopulations, along with CTLA‐4, PD1, CD40L, MHC‐I, MHC‐II, CD80 and CD86. Our results show a decrease in the frequency of B lymphocyte population and T lymphocytes in comparison to the control group. In B and T lymphocytes the analysis of co‐stimulatory molecules show a lower frequency compared to the control group. The immune response depends of the differentiation and activation of cellular populations. We hypothesized that chronic ingestion of commercial sucralose might be affecting the immune response by modifying the frequencies of cellular populations, as well as the expression of co‐stimulatory and inhibitory molecules such as MHC‐I, MHC‐II and PD1, by decreasing the ability of co‐stimulation between B an T lymphocytes, with a probable effect on the immune response. It is necessary to further determine if sucralose intake affects the efficiency of the immune response.