ArticleBiology2021
Long-Term Aspartame Administration Leads to Fibrosis, Inflammasome Activation, and Gluconeogenesis Impairment in the Liver of Mice.
Article in Biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Artificial Sweeteners on Inflammation Markers: A Systematic Review of Animal Studies.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling reveals immune-metabolic crosstalk and predictive biomarkers of ligustrazine treatment response in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Cellular Stress, Inflammation and Barrier Damage in Gut Epithelial Cells Caused by Aspartame.Allergy · 2026Article
- New Insights into the Interplay Between Simple Sugars and Liver Diseases.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Effects of Selected Food Additives on the Gut Microbiome and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD).Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Review
- Long-term exposure of sucralose induces neuroinflammation and ferroptosis in human microglia cells via SIRT1/NLRP3/IL-1β/GPx4 signaling pathways.Food science & nutrition · 2024Article
- A High-Fat and High-Fructose Diet Exacerbates Liver Dysfunction by Regulating Sirtuins in a Murine Model.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The effect of aspartame on accelerating caspase-dependent apoptosis of pancreatic islet via ZIPK/STAT3/caspase 3 signaling pathway.Journal of physiology and biochemistry · 2024Article
- A novel A2a adenosine receptor inhibitor effectively mitigates hepatic fibrosis in a metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis mouse model.International journal of biological sciences · 2024Article
- Nonnutritive sweeteners and glucose intolerance: Where do we go from here?The Journal of clinical investigation · 2023Article
- Aspartame Consumption, Mitochondrial Disorder-Induced Impaired Ovarian Function, and Infertility Risk.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAspartame is an artificial sweetener used in foods and beverages worldwide. However, it is linked to oxidative stress, inflammation, and liver damage through mechanisms that are not fully elucidated yet. This work aimed to investigate the effects of long-term administration of aspartame on the oxidative and inflammatory mechanisms associated with liver fibrosis progression in mice.
methodsMice were divided into two groups with six animals each: control and aspartame. Aspartame (80 mg/kg, via oral) or vehicle was administrated for 12 weeks.
resultsAspartame caused liver damage and elevated serum transaminase levels. Aspartame also generated liver fibrosis, as evidenced by histology analysis, and pro-fibrotic markers' upregulation, including transforming growth factor β 1, collagen type I alpha 1, and alpha-smooth muscle actin. Furthermore, aspartame reduced nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation and enzymatic antioxidant activity and increased lipid peroxidation, which triggered NOD-like receptor containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation and p53 induction. Furthermore, aspartame reduced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) levels, possibly through p53 activation. This PGC-1α deficiency could be responsible for the changes in lipid profile in serum, total lipid accumulation, and gluconeogenesis impairment in liver, evidenced by the gluconeogenic enzymes' downregulation, thus causing hypoglycemia.
conclusionsThis work provides new insights to understand the mechanisms related to the adverse effects of aspartame on liver tissue.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.