Synergistic Effects of Curcumin and Nano-Curcumin against Toxicity, Carcinogenicity, and Oxidative Stress Induced by Tartrazine at Normal and Cancer Cell Levels

Mohamed A Habila,Saikh M Wabaidur,Zeid A Alothman,Gaber E El-Desoky

doi:10.3390/catal11101203

Abstract

In this study, the cellular synergistic and antagonistic effects of mixing tartrazine (TZ) with curcumin (CUR) or curcumin-nanoparticles (CUR-NPs) were investigated. The in vivo administration of TZ, CUR, CUR-NPs, and TZ mixed with CUR or CUR-NPs at 75:25 or 50:50 ratios were tested. The results indicated that CUR and CUR -NPs reduced the cytotoxicity effects of TZ on skin fibroblast BJ-1 (ATCC® CRL-2522™) normal cells. However, among the tested materials, CUR-NPs had highest in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activity compared to TZ. Furthermore, CUR-NPs and CUR exhibited anticancer activity against HepG-2 liver cancer cells via apoptosis induction. The key apoptosis protein genes Caspase-3, p53, and Bax were upregulated, whereas Bc-2, which exhibits anti-apoptosis activity, was downregulated. Our results indicated that the nano-formulation of CUR alters its physicochemical properties, including the size and shape, and increases its antioxidant and anticancer properties. CUR-NPs also overcome the side effect of using TZ as a yellow color and food preservative additive, due to its reduced toxicity, oxidative stress, and carcinogenicity. In agreement with our previous findings, CUR and CUR-NPs were able to protect against cellular oxidative stress by stimulating endogenous antioxidant defense enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST). We conclude that the nano-formulation of CUR exhibits economic benefits as a new strategy to use CUR as a food additive at the cellular level.

Highlights

Food additives are natural substances added in low concentrations to manufactured food in order to improve flavor, color, texture, and preservation [1]
Tartrazine (TZ; E102) is a synthetic yellow dye derived from coal tar that is used as a food additive and in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products
We examine the synergistic effects of curcumin and nano-curcumin as a natural food dye against the toxicity induced by TZ as a synthetic food dye at the cellular level

Summary

Introduction

Food additives are natural substances added in low concentrations to manufactured food in order to improve flavor, color, texture, and preservation [1]. Several reports indicated that some food additives exhibit human health side effects and place limits on their use [7,8]. Several in vivo and in vitro studies have reported that CUR exhibits a strong antioxidant effect against different forms of free radicals [12,13]. Several reports have indicated that TZ causes ROS generation and oxidative stress in vivo [16,17] In this context, TZ induces oxidative stress and causes cellular damage by inhibiting antioxidant defense enzymes and enhancing lipid peroxidation in vivo [18]. We examine the synergistic effects of curcumin and nano-curcumin as a natural food dye against the toxicity induced by TZ as a synthetic food dye at the cellular level

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion