Cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of tert‐butylhydroquinone, butylated hydroxyanisole and propyl gallate as synthetic food antioxidants

Synthetic food antioxidants such as tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and propyl gallate (PG) have been extensively utilized in different food industries because of their high protectant activities to stop food spoilage and remove foodborne diseases in humans and animals. It would be emphasized that increasing the intake of antioxidants through intracellular may lead to cyto/genotoxicity, and their complex formation with biological molecules eventually accelerate the progress of various diseases like multiple sclerosis, diabetes, neurological disorders, cardiac vascular disease, cancer, etc. Therefore, their toxicity is one of the challenging subjects due to their extensive use in food-related industries. TBHQ, BHA, and PG antioxidants have cytotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic effects if absorbed in high doses through the gastrointestinal tract. Thermodynamic parameters presented that the hydrophobic bind plays a key role in the complexation of the TBHQ, BHA, and PG with albumin. The molecular modeling results showed that subdomain IIA plays a vital role in the interaction of TBHQ and BHA with albumin. To comprehend the mechanisms of the cyto/genotoxicity effects of these food antioxidants and conformational alterations of albumin macromolecule, we aim to overview numerous types of research that evaluated the cyto/genotoxicity effects of these antioxidants using several procedures.