Mechanism analysis of toxicity of sodium sulfite to human hepatocytes L02.

Food additives are widely used in various food products to preserve the taste, color, and other qualities. However, if they are used improperly or exceed the standard, they will cause damage to the human body. Sulfite is a commonly used food additive to prevent oxidation from deteriorating the nutrients in foods, it has been widely used as a bleaching agent in the food industry for a long time. In this study, human hepatocytes L02 cells were used as a model cell line to evaluate the toxicity of sodium sulfite. The cell morphology and cell proliferation were affected by sodium sulfite treatment, and apoptosis was detected. Transcriptome sequencing showed 97 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the experimental group (IC50) and the control group (MOCK), and 27 differentially expressed genes related to cell apoptosis, metabolism and inflammation were selected for validation by qPCR. Among them, 13 significantly upregulated genes and 14 significantly downregulated genes were identified by qPCR. The results showed that with increase of sodium sulfite concentration, the morphology of L02 changed, cell proliferation and activity were inhibited, and sodium sulfite caused apoptosis in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The resulting toxic mechanism inhibits proliferation, damages the mitochondrial integrity, and promotes apoptosis.