Effects Of Sodium Benzoate On The Growth And Development Of Adolescent Male Mice

Sodium benzoate is a derivative of benzoic acid,which can be converted into effective benzoic acid substances under acidic conditions,thereby inhibiting the decay caused by bacteria,molds or yeast.Sodium benzoate is widely used in food,beverage,pharmaceutical,feed and cosmetics industries.In recent years,the abuse of sodium benzoate and the accumulation of toxicity coused by the combination with a variety of preservatives have been frequent.It has been reported that compared with adults,sodium benzoate is more prone to excessive exposure in children and adolescents,so the safety of sodium benzoate for minors urgently needs to be discussed.In this study,3-week-old male mice were divided into sodium benzoate low-dose(0.25g/kg),medium-dose(0.50g/kg),high-dose(1.00g/kg)and normal saline groups,and orally gavaged to early adolescence(5 weeks old),mid-adolescence(7 weeks old),and late adolescence(9 weeks old).The effects and mechanisms of three concentrations of sodium benzoate on weight gain,organ coefficients,histopathological changes,apoptosis,apoptosis-related gene expression and sperm quality of mice,as well as apoptosis-related gene expression,were analyzed,which provided a theoretical basis for evaluating the application of sodium benzoate in food,medicine and other industries.The results of this study are as follows:1.Low-dose sodium benzoate only affected the body weight of mice,and the medium-dose and high-dose sodium benzoate not only affected the body weight of mice,but also caused damage to the development of their vital organs.The injury is a dynamic process of acute injury,self-repair and damage increases as toxicity accumulates.2.The low dose sodium benzoate had no effect on the morphology of liver and kidney,but caused certain damage to the testis.Medium and high doses of sodium benzoate led to inflammatory necrosis of liver,kidney and testis in mice,and it was dose-dependent.3.Sodium benzoate leaded to different degrees of apoptosis in liver,kidney and testis,and the degree of influence is a trend of testis > kidney > liver.We speculated that the P53-Bcl2/Bax-Caspase-9-Caspase-3 pathway is a common pathway for apoptosis mediated by liver,kindey and testis,and apoptosis of kidney and testicular histiocytes is also regulated by the Fas/Fasl-Caspase-8-Caspase-3 pathway.4.Sodium benzoate also affected the sperm number,sperm viability,ratio of forward motility sperm and count of teratospermia.Combined with the testicular pathological section,we speculated that high intake of sodium benzoate affected the development of testis,and therefore interfered with the occurrence of sperm.As early as 5 weeks of age,the number of spermatocytes were decreasedand and spermatogenesis were inhibited.With the accumulation of toxicity,sperm motility continued to decrease and the number of teratospermia gradually increased.In conclusion,sodium benzoate affected the development of mice,and the impact on the liver,kidney and testis showed a stress-repair-stress fluctuation rule.The accumulation of sodium benzoate caused damage to the tissue structure of the liver,kidney and testis,and the increase of apoptotic cells,of which the damage to the testis and kidney was greater than that of the liver,and the number and quality of sperm reduced.The common pathway mediating cell apoptosis in liver,kidney and testis tissues was P53-Bcl2/Bax-Caspase-9-Caspase-3 pathway,and the apoptosis of kidney and testis tissues cells was also regulated by Fas/Fasl-Caspase-8-Caspase-3 pathway.