Effect of aspartame on migration and proliferation of human intestinal epithelial cells

Abstract

Aspartame is the most common artificial sweeteners in various food products. Although many studies about toxicity of aspartame are conducted, there are no studies about the effect of aspartame on intestinal wound healing. As migration and proliferation of the epithelial cells along gastro-intestinal tract (GI) are important processes for wound healing to maintain the intestinal barrier, the purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the effect of aspartame on migration and proliferation of human intestinal epithelial cells. Possible mechanism involved in these processes was also examined. The present study revealed for the first time that aspartame at non-toxic concentrations significantly inhibited intestinal epithelial cell migration determined by both wound healing and Boyden chamber cell migration assays (p < 0.05) but had no effect on proliferation of the cells. Furthermore, the numbers of lamellipodia per cell significantly reduced in aspartame-treated cells (p < 0.05). Regarding molecular mechanisms, it was found that aspartame suppressed the cellular levels of the migration regulatory proteins namely phosphorylated FAK, phosphorylated Akt, Cav-1, Rac1-GTP, and RhoA-GTP. Altogether, this study indicated that aspartame might affect the intestinal wound healing through suppression of cell migration. This information may be beneficial to patients with GI ulcer in considering consumption of aspartame-containing products to prevent the negative effect on wound healing process.