Vol 43 # 3 September 2011 - Kma.org.kw

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KUWAIT MEDICAL JOURNAL
September 2011
Original Article
Characterization of Acrylamide Mediated Testicular
Toxicity in Rat: Light and Electron Microscopic Study
Nesreen Rajeh 1,2 , Samar Al Saggaf 1 , Nasra Ayuob 1 , Sufian ElAssouli 3
1
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2
Department of Histology and Cytology, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt
3
King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT
Kuwait Medical Journal 2011; 43 (3): 196-205
Objectives: Acrylamide (AA) has been shown to be a
reproductive toxicant in animals and is associated with risk
of cancer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the
dose-dependent acute testicular toxicity of AA in rats.
Design: Experimental study
Setting: King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz
University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Subjects: Forty-eight rats
Intervention: Animals were loaded with AA orally at doses
(5, 15, 30, 45, 60 mg/kg/day) for five consecutive days
Main Outcome Measures: Histopathological effects of AA
on testis and epididymis
Results: AA induced a significant body weight reduction,
increase in testis / body weight ratio and a significant
reduction in sperm count, in the two groups treated with 45 mg
and 60 mg/kg/day. Abnormal sperm shapes were detected
in all groups. Histopathological signs of AA toxicity on testes
and epididymis included; degeneration of spermatogonia,
widening of intercellular junctions and degeneration of
peritubular myoid cell. Sertoli cells showed darkening of its
nuclei, detachment from the basement membrane, increase
in the number and size of lipid droplets in their cytoplasm,
failure of sperm release and phagocytosis of some sperms.
Leydig cell atrophy was observed which contributed to
sperm defects and various abnormal histopathological
lesions including apoptosis in rat testis. A possible cause
of tail intersegmentation seen in mature sperm tails was
clarified by electron microscope (EM) examination.
Conclusion: AA induced harmful effects on the testis
evidenced by degeneration of spermatogenic and Sertoli
cells and Leydig cells atrophy in addition to reducing sperm
count and appearance of abnormal sperms.
KEY WORDS: acrylamide, acute-toxicity, epididymis, histology, testis
INTRODUCTION
Acrylamide (AA) is an important compound in the
production of polyacrylamide which is used in a variety
of industries. It is well-known as a neurotoxicant after
human and animal exposure and it also has been shown
to elicit genotoxic, reproductive and carcinogenic effects
in laboratory animals. Following the announcement
of Swedish National Food Administration [1] that AA
could be formed in carbohydrate rich foods when
cooked at a high temperature, researchers worldwide
have been energized to study AA and its implication
on human health.
Although the underlying mechanism of AA
formation in cooked foods has not been fully established
to date, one possible mechanism is that AA is formed
due to a heat-catalyzed chemical reaction between
the amino acid asparagine and certain sugars (e.g.,
glucose), both of which occur naturally in foods [2,3] .
The investigators found that the content of AA
in chips began to increase after three days of storage
of potatoes at 2 ºC and that was correlated with the
increase in reducing sugars in the tubers. This indicated
that the reducing sugar content of the potato tubers
determined the degree of AA formation and that, as a
result, storage of potatoes at low temperature should
be avoided to prevent increased AA formation [4] .
A large number of studies have been reported on
AA neurotoxicity, because it was first identified as a
neurotoxicant in laboratory animals and industrial
workers a long time ago [5] . However, many recent
investigations of AA have been conducted to
evaluate its other toxic effects, including reproductive
toxicity [6-8] , genotoxicity [7, 9] and carcinogenicity [10 - 12] .
AA stimulates axonapathies. A primary target for
neuronal damage is the medium to large diameter
axons. Within the axonopathy reaction, the myelin
sheath becomes degenerated and retreats away from
the cell body. On a biochemical level, the AA acts as
a “chemical transectant” which interferes with the
axon along some point in the myelin sheath, thus
Address correspondence to:
Nasra Ayuob, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Medical Education Department, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tel: 00966/530112205,
E-mail: nasra_ayuob@yahoo.com