Investigating the Effects of Sodium Benzoate on Fat Deposition and Pharyngeal Pumping and Related Genetic Mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Sodium benzoate is a widely used food preservative common in many household products due to its antibacterial and antifungal activities. However, many of its side effects other than as a preservative has been under research as of late to try and assess the validity of it being a generally regarded as safe (“GRAS”) compound. Recently, studies on sodium benzoate have been mainly mostly focused on the toxic potentiality of the chemical but not of its potential of being an obesogenic chemical. With obesity rates on the rise, more research is needed to assess whether sodium benzoate can be classified as a chemical obesogen. Here C. elegans were exposed to different sodium benzoate levels of 0.05%, 0.1%, and 0.5% to test if the chemical can promote lipid accumulation though the use of Oil Red O staining methods. Results from the study concluded that sodium benzoate exposure resulted in a significant difference in staining levels of lipid after 72 hours of dosing. The study also tested different target genes of interest dealing with the synthesis of fatty acids, insulin signaling pathway, nuclear hormone receptor, and Krüppel-like zinc finger transcription factors but no significant difference was found in gene expression levels. These results therefore led to the conclusion that sodium benzoate may have obesogenic effects as reflected by the staining of lipid content. Although, research as late has shown that sodium benzoate can have the potential to produce oxidative stress. This potential of oxidative stress could therefore also increase the bioaccumulation of lipofuscins in which Oil Red O fails to differentiate in staining therefore leading to additional indirect staining results. Taken together, future studies should explore different staining quantification methods of Oil Red O, implement chemical analysis of lipids through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to inspect true staining of neutral lipids or lipofuscins, and measuring C. elegans life span to assess sodium benzoates of either being an obesogenic chemical or inducer of oxidative stress.