Sunset Yellow FCF (Food Yellow 3)

Ultrasensitive detection of food colorant sunset yellow using nickel nanoparticles promoted lettuce-like spinel Co3O4 anchored GO nanosheets

Synthetic food colorants are extensively used across the globe regardless of the fact that they induce deleterious side effects when used in higher amounts. In this work, a novel electrochemical sensor based on nickel nanoparticles doped lettuce-like Co3O4 anchored graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets was developed for effective detection of sulfonated azo dye sunset yellow widely used as a food colorant. Hydrothermal synthesis was adopted for the preparation of lettuce-like spinel Co3O4 nanoparticles and Ni-Co3O4 NPs/GO nanocomposite was prepared using ecofriendly and economical sonochemical method. The prepared ternary nanocomposite meticulously fabricated on a screen-printed carbon electrode exhibited remarkable electrocatalytic activity towards sunset yellow determination. This is apparent from the resultant well-defined and intense redox peak currents of Ni-Co3O4 NPs/GO nanocomposite modified electrode at very low potentials. The developed sunset yellow sensor exhibited a high sensitivity of 4.16 μA μM-1 cm-2 and a nanomolar detection limit of 0.9 nM in the linear range 0.125-108.5 μM. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to affirm excellent stability, reproducibility, repeatability, and selectivity of proposed sensor. The practicality of sunset yellow determination using the developed sensor was analyzed in different varieties of food samples including jelly, soft drink, ice cream, and candy resulting in recovery in the range of 96.16%-102.56%.

Sunset yellow FCF, a permitted food dye, alters functional responses of splenocytes at non-cytotoxic dose

Sunset yellow FCF (SY), a permitted food color, is extensively used in various food preparations and quite often exceeds the permissible levels (100-200 mg/kg). Several toxicity studies on SY are reported, however immunomodulatory properties have not been explored yet. To investigate the immunotoxic properties of SY, splenocytes were isolated, cultured and subjected to mitogen stimulated proliferation assay (lipopolysaccharide, LPS or concanavalin A, Con A), mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) assay, immunophenotypic analysis of cell surface receptor expression and assay for cytokines release in the culture supernatants were performed in the presence of SY. Since SY did not exhibit any cytotoxicity up to 250 μg/ml, this dose was used for further studies. It was observed that SY (250 μg/ml) significantly (p<0.05) suppressed the mitogen induced proliferation of splenocytes and MLR response. Further, immunophenotypic analysis revealed that SY alters the relative expression of CD3e/CD4/CD8 in T cells and CD19 in B-cells. Consistent with the suppression of T-cell and B-cell responses and altered surface receptor expression, SY also lowered the expression of IL2, IL4, IL6, IL-17, IFN-γ and TNF-α cytokines. These results suggest that non-cytotoxic dose of SY may have immunomodulatory effects.

Construction of modified screen-printed graphite electrode for the application in electrochemical detection of sunset yellow in food samples

The current work introduced a novel electrochemical sensor (screen-printed graphite electrode (SPGE) modified with MnO₂ nanorods anchored graphene oxide nanocomposite (MnO₂ NRs/GO) for sensitive determination of sunset yellow. The characterization of MnO₂ NRs/GO nanocomposite synthesized through a simple hydrothermal approach was determined employing varied analytical equipment like Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Chronoamperometric measurements, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) were recruited to recognize the electrochemical oxidation of sunset yellow on the MnO₂ NRs/GO/SPGE. The results of CV proved that the as-synthesized MnO₂ NRs/GO nanocomposite has a good electrocatalytic activity toward sunset yellow. The MnO₂ NRs/GO/SPGE electrode under optimized conditions using the DPV possessed a linear response for different concentrations of sunset yellow (between 0.01 and 115.0 μM) with a low limit of detection (LOD) (0.008 μM). Finally, the impressive applicability of this sensor was confirmed via real sample analysis with excellent recoveries (between 97.3 and 104.6%).

Food colorant Sunset Yellow (E110) intervenes developmental profile of zebrafish (Danio rerio)

In this study, we tested the teratogenic/embryotoxic potentials of food colorant, Sunset Yellow (E110) using zebrafish embryos as a model. Laboratory-raised developing embryos of Danio rerio were exposed to graded concentrations (00, 0.1, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 mm) of E110 from gastrulation stage (~6 hours post-fertilization [hpf]) up until hatching. The developmental trajectory of each embryo and post-hatched larva was traced from 24 to 168 hpf. The no observed effect concentration (NOEC), median effective concentration (EC₅₀ ), median lethal concentration (LC₅₀ ) and teratogenic index were determined. In the 0.1 mm E110-exposed embryos, the development proceeded as in controls (NOEC), while, exposure of embryos to 1-5 mm of E110 led to a decrease in body size, dry body mass of resultant larvae along with appearance of morphological deformities such as, microphthalmia, pericardial edema, yolk sac edema and spinal curvature. Larvae of 10-50 mm E110-exposed embryos exhibited increased cellular apoptosis in the cardiac region with significantly declined heartbeats and elevated mortality rates, in addition to the above-mentioned abnormalities. In the 100 mm exposure group, all embryos succumbed to death within 24 hpf. The NOEC and LC₅₀ recorded were at 0.1 and 42.57 mm respectively. EC₅₀ (96 hpf) recorded for pericardial edema and yolk sac edema was 19.41 and 39.84 mm with teratogenic index quotient 2.1 and 1.06 respectively The study provides direct evidence for the developmental toxicity/teratogenic potential of E110.

Determination of benzidine in the food colours tartrazine and sunset yellow FCF, by reduction and derivatization followed by high-performance liquid chromatography

Free and bound benzidine, a non-sulphonated aromatic amine (NSAA), were determined in the food colours tartrazine and sunset yellow FCF. Bound amines were released by reducing with sodium dithionite, then total NSAAs were extracted into chloroform, transferred to aqueous acid solution and diazotized with sodium nitrite before coupling with 2-naphthol-3,6-disulphonic acid, disodium salt (R-salt). Coloured benzidine and aniline derivatives (BZDRS and ANRS) were analysed using reversed-phase ion pair high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and an absorbance detector set at 548 nm. Levels of total benzidine were similar to those reported in studies conducted in the USA, and ranged from < 5 to 270 ng/g. Total aniline was also determined (0.2-188 micrograms/g). Recoveries of benzidine with this method were found to be lower than expected (average ca 46%), but were reproducible. Detection limits were 15-20 ng BZDRS/g (3-4 ng benzidine/g). Mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was evaluated for identifying and determining purity of the standards, but difficulties were encountered when the methodology was applied to commercial samples.