Sucralose: Lack of effects on sperm glycolysis and reproduction in the rat

Certain chlorine-substituted sugars with chemical similarities to sucralose have been demonstrated previously to diminish or inhibit sperm glycolysis and fertility in the rat (Ford and Waites, 1978a). In order to investigate this potential for sucralose, epididymal spermatozoa were recovered from ra ts exposed in vivo to oral doses of one of three of these substituted sugar s: 6-chloroglucose (6-CG, 24 mg/kg/day, positive control), sucralose (500 m g/kg/day, over 300 times the expected human daily intake), or a 6'-substitu ted isomer of sucralose, trichloro de-oxy sucrose (TCDS, 100 mg/kg/day, a p otential trace impurity in commercial sucralose); distilled water served as the negative control. After incubation of the spermatozoa with D-[U-C-14] glucose, measurements of (CO2)-C-14 and of ATP content showed no impairment of the glycolytic ability of spermatozoa in any of the groups except for a marked inhibition for those exposed to 6-CG, the positive control, In orde r to determine whether other parameters of reproduction and fertility could be affected, reproductive endpoints were examined following oral exposure of male and female rats to sucralose. Sucralose was fed in the diet at conc entrations of 0, 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0% (approx. 100, 365 and 1150 times the EDI ) to groups of 30 male and 30 female rats for 10 weeks prior to mating, and continued through two subsequent generations until weaning of the F-2 pups . Two litters were produced per generation. Food consumption and weight gai n in the F-0 and F-1 generations were depressed in all sucralose groups bef ore mating and in all four litters prior to meaning. The decrease in initia l average weight for newborn pups probably reflects the increased litter si zes noted for sucralose-treated groups and the reduced food consumption of the dams during gestation and lactation. The latter is a result primarily o f the unpalatability of sucralose to rats (McNeil, 1987). Caecal enlargemen t (a common animal response to large doses of indigestible material) occurr ed in both the F-0 and F-1 parents. Increased kidney weights, possibly asso ciated with increased water intake, were observed primarily among animals r eceiving 3% sucralose (no renal histopathology has been detected). Decrease d thymus weights occurred in F-1 males and in both F-1 and F-2 females at t he 3% level. Subsequent studies specifically designed to investigate the po tential for adverse immune system effects of sucralose (McNeil, 1987) showe d no adverse effects. These findings are consistent with investigations by others showing that decreases in thymus weights occur in young rats in resp onse to stressful conditions associated with reductions in weight gain. All reproductive indices (oestrous cycles, mating behaviour, fertility, gestat ion, maternal and foetal viability, foetal development, parturition, pup ma turation and lactation) were comparable between the control and sucralose-t reated groups. We conclude from these results that sucralose has no effect on sperm glycolysis or on male or female reproductive performance in the ra t. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.