Sucralose and its Effect on Levels of Nitric Oxide Synthase in Endothelial Cells

Sucralose is a sugar substitute that replaces three hydroxyl groups from sucrose, table sugar, with three chlorine atoms, resulting in a molecule 600 times sweeter than sucrose. Endothelial cells contain nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which produces nitric oxide. We are using endothelial cells to detect the concentration of eNOS when sucralose is present. Nitric oxide is the regulator of vascular tone, local cell growth, and angiogenesis among other things. We are interested in the levels of eNOS in endothelial tissues as a result of varying concentrations of sucralose. We incubated endothelial cells with concentrations of 5mmol, 20mmol, 50mmol, and a control group with no sucralose in a 37 degree incubator with 5% carbon dioxide. We let the cells incubate for 16 hours and began protein extraction from the cells. Our aim of the project is to see if the chlorine replaced hydroxyl groups from sucralose will have an effect on the levels of eNOS.