To evaluate the haematological alterations induced by tartrazine after acute and chronic administration in albino rats.

The design involved acute and chronic study. The acute study investigated the intraperitoneal and oral route of administration while the chronic study used the oral route only. The rats used weighed 0.15 kg approximately. In the acute study, 48 rats (24 female and 24 male) were used for intraperitoneal treatment and were randomly selected and placed into 6 groups treated with 0.0 g/kg, 1.67 g/kg, 3.33 g/kg, 5.0 g/kg, 6.67 g/kg and, 8.33 g/kg of tartrazine. In orally treated rats, 48 rats (24 female and 24 male) were also used and were treated with 0.0 g/kg, 2.5 g/kg, 5.0 g/kg, 10.0 g/kg, 15.0 g/kg and 20.0 g/kg of tartrazine. In the chronic study, the experiment was divided into phase 1, 2 and, 3 which lasted for 30, 60, and 90 days respectively. In each phase, 80 rats were used and were divided into treatment and control groups. The treated groups were given 7.5 mg/kg of tartrazine orally on a daily basis over the stipulated periods while the control groups were not treated with tartrazine.

The study was carried out in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria within a period of 12 months (December 2017 – December 2018).

At the end of the acute and chronic study, 5 mls of whole blood specimens were collected by means of cardiac puncture into K3EDTA bottles. The collected specimens were analyzed immediately using Mindray 5300 haematology autoanalyzer. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism version 5.03 (San Diego, California, USA).

In acute toxicity study, the administration of high doses far above the ADI of tartrazine induced decreased RBCs, HB, HCT, WBCs, Eosinophil, and Neutrophil counts as well as an increased PLTs, Lymphocyte, and Monocyte counts. However, in the chronic treatment, WBCs were increased after 60 and 90 days of chronic treatment at ADI doses while Eosinophil and Basophil counts showed significant decrease after 30 and 60 days of treatment. Also, an increase in Lymphocyte was observed after 30, 60, and 90 days. In addition, Neutrophil and Monocyte counts showed significantly lower levels after 30, 60, and 90 days of chronic treatment with tartrazine. HCT, HB, and PLTs showed no significant difference after 30, 60, and 90 days of chronic treatment at ADI doses.

The results obtained indicate that high doses of tartrazine above the recommended ADI induced severe haematological alterations. However, the chronic study did not affect HCT, HB, and PLTs but mild derangements/alterations were in WBCs, lymphocyte, Neutrophil, Eosinophil, and Basophil counts after 60 and 90 days of treatment.