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Monosodium glutamate aggravates lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury via inflammation and oxidative stress in rats

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Abstract

Purpose

Available epidemiological reports have indicated an increase in the incidence of liver damage globally. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a widely used food additive in many processed foods which has been associated with tissue injury. However, there is a paucity of information on its effect on hepatic injury. Therefore, the present study examined the possible influence of high intake of MSG on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver injury.

Methods

Twenty-eight healthy male Wistar rats were used for the study. MSG (1500 mg/kg) was administered orally for 14 days while LPS (0.25 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally for 7 days.

Results

Administration of MSG to rats with hepatocyte injury intensified liver damage with a marked increase in the activities of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase. Moreover, MSG aggravated (P < 0.05) LPS-mediated hepatic oxidative stress as evidenced by a marked decrease in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants with a concomitant increase in lipid peroxidation. The increase in inflammatory biomarkers, in addition to histological damage in the liver, was aggravated following the administration of MSG to rats with liver injury.

Conclusion

Taken together, MSG exacerbated liver injury via mechanisms relating to increased oxidative stress and inflammation.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the technical assistance of Dr Aina of the histopathology unit, University of Ibadan for tissue processing. This study was done using the authors’ personal funds without a specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not‐for‐profit sectors. The graphical abstract figure was created with Biorender (https://biorender.com).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Drug Metabolism and Toxicology Research Laboratory, Biochemistry Unit, Department of Chemical Sciences, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria

    Folake Olubukola Asejeje, Gladys Omolola Gabriel & Michael Abayomi Abiola

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  1. Folake Olubukola Asejeje
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  2. Gladys Omolola Gabriel
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Contributions

Folake O. Asejeje: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing-original draft, writing – review & editing. Gladys O. Gabriel: methodology, investigation. Michael A. Abiola: methodology, data curation and analysis, writing-original draft, writing – review & editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Folake Olubukola Asejeje or Michael Abayomi Abiola.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The experimental procedure for this study was accepted and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Ajayi Crowther University (FNS/ERC/2021/081 M). The animal handling and treatment protocol followed standard procedures in strict compliance with the “Principle of Laboratory Animal Care” (NIH Publication No. 85–23).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Asejeje, F.O., Gabriel, G.O. & Abiola, M.A. Monosodium glutamate aggravates lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury via inflammation and oxidative stress in rats. Nutrire 48, 5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41110-023-00188-w

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