ABSTRACT

 Due to its sweetness and low caloric index, aspartame has greatly replaced sucrose in the pharmaceutical and food industry because it prevents tooth decay and has no effect on blood sugar. Contradicting reports has been made on the effect of prolonged consumption of aspartame on some hematological parameters. Hence, this study was carried out to assessed the effects of aspartame on hematological parameters of prepubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats after administration for 75 days. Aspartame was administered orally via gastric gavage at 40, 80, 160, and 320mg/kg body weight to group B, C, D, and E respectively, while group A (control) received 0.5ml of distilled water. Results: the white blood cells count, lymphocytes count, monocyte count, granulocytes count, red blood cells count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, red blood cell distribution width, platelet count, platelet volume, platelet distribution width and platelet-larger cell ratio showed a non- significant difference between the treated groups and the control group. However, the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was significantly increased in the 80, 160, and 320mg/kg aspartame administered group when compared to the control group with p values of 0.0328, 0.00014, 0.0009 respectively while the mean corpuscular volume was slightly decreased. Since the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration increased while the mean corpuscular volume decreased, it shows that aspartame affects hemoglobin concentration content of red blood cells. Prolonged consumption has a tendency to affect other hematological parameters.