Uptake of an aluminum-containing food color in human cells and its implications for human health

Food colors contain Aluminium (Al) to change the color's solubility in water, but these Al containing versions of the food colors have never been investigated towards their pathophysiological effects in humans, but are assumed to behave like the Al-free version. We compared the food color carminic acid (CA) with its Al-containing version carmine (Car, both used as E 120) and could see a clear difference between gene expression profiles of Caco-2 cells exposed to Car, CA or control. Genes which were only dysregulated through Car treatment, but not with CA treatment, lead to a significant suppression of oxidative phosphorylation, which is known to be impaired in neurodegenerative diseases. Overall design: We investigated the gene expression of differentiated Caco-2 cells after treatment with Carminic Acid, Carmine or Control for 24 hours (triplicates for each treatment)

食用色素常添加铝（Aluminium, Al）以调节其在水中的溶解度，但此类含铝食用色素从未被探究过其对人体的病理生理学效应，且此前均默认其行为与无铝版本一致。本研究以食用色素胭脂虫酸（carminic acid, CA）及其含铝形式胭脂红（carmine, Car，二者均被编码为E 120）为研究对象，对比发现经Car、CA处理及对照组的Caco-2细胞的基因表达谱存在显著差异。仅经Car处理出现表达失调、而CA处理未产生该变化的基因，会显著抑制氧化磷酸化过程——而该过程已知在神经退行性疾病中存在功能受损情况。实验设计：本研究对经胭脂虫酸、胭脂红或对照试剂处理24小时的分化型Caco-2细胞进行基因表达分析（每组设置三次生物学重复）。