Acceptable daily intake of aspartame aggravates enteritis pathology and systemic inflammation in colitis mouse model

Abstract In this study, a dextran sodium sulfate‐induced ulcerative colitis model in C57BL/6 mice was used to explore the effect of acceptable daily intake (ADI) of aspartame on inflammation in colonic tissues. The effects of aspartame on the inflammatory state of the colon in mice were comprehensively evaluated by comparing the body weight, colon length/colon length index, splenic index, disease activity index (DAI) score, histological activity index (HAI) score, the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐6, claudin‐3, and occludin, the infiltration characteristics of macrophage and neutrophil and the composition of the gut microbiota in the control group, aspartame group, ulcerative colitis model group, and aspartame + ulcerative colitis group. We demonstrated that, in a mouse model of dextran sulfate‐induced ulcerative colitis, ADI of aspartame caused a significant decrease in body weight, colon length/colon length index, DAI scores, and expression levels of the proteins claudin‐3 and occludin. Moreover, ADI of aspartame caused an increase in the splenic index, HAI scores, the levels of proinflammatory factors TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and IL‐6 both in intestinal tissue and serum and infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils in colon tissues. These results showed that ADI of aspartame promoted intestinal pathology and systemic inflammation in a mouse model of colitis.