Toxicity Evaluation of Potassium Sorbate In Vivo with Drosophila Melanogaster.

Simple Summary: Potassium sorbate (PS) is widely utilized as a food preservative. In this study, Drosophila melanogaster was employed as a model organism to assess the potential toxicity of PS. We examined the impacts of PS on several physiological parameters and discovered that higher levels of PS intake significantly affected the majority of these parameters. Additionally, our data suggest that excessive PS consumption may alter the differentiation trajectory of intestinal stem cells (ISCs), possibly via the down-regulation of Notch signaling. These results offer important insights into the potential health risks associated with PS exposure. Potassium sorbate (PS) is a preservative widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. Improper and careless use of PS can lead to various health issues and potential environmental problems. Drosophila is capable of making rapid and sensitive responses to stress or other stimuli. Here we utilized Drosophila as a model organism to evaluate the potential toxicity of PS. Our study revealed that PS ingestion reduced the lifespan and fecundity of Drosophila. In addition, excessive PS ingestion led to cell apoptosis and ROS accumulation in the midgut. Furthermore, PS intake also enhanced the mitophagy of midgut cells. Strikingly, PS affected the cell differentiation progression as well, leading to the production of more enteroendocrine (EE) cells. We further demonstrated that the expression of notch (N), a vital player in intestinal stem cell (ISC) differentiation, was down-regulated in the midgut. This indicates that the differentiation progression was affected potentially by repressing the N expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]