title: Pathological assessment of the nervous and male reproductive systems of rat offspring exposed maternally to acrylamide during the gestation and lactation periods - a preliminary study.
abstract: To evaluate the developmental effects of exposure to acrylamide (ACR) on the nervous and male reproductive systems, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were given ACR at 0, 50, 100 or 200 ppm in the drinking water from gestational day 10 to postnatal day 21 and histopathological assessment of offspring was performed at weaning and postnatal week 11. Neurotoxicity was quantitatively assessed with reference to nerve fiber density, percentages of degenerated and small caliber axons in the sciatic nerves, and numbers of aberrant dot-like structures immunoreactive for synaptophysin in the cerebellar molecular layer. Although maternal neurotoxicity was evident from 100 ppm, no changes suggestive of neurotoxicity or testicular toxicity were observed in offspring. However, lowering of body weights was dose-dependently observed from birth at the dose levels of > or =50 ppm in males and > or =100 ppm in females. Maternal malnutrition was apparent at >/=100 ppm during the lactation period. Therefore, poor lactational ACR-exposure due to maternal toxicity might account for the lack of ACR-induced offspring toxicity other than retarded body growth.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Kamiyoga, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Miwa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibutani
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Akiyoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
mesh_terms: D020106:Acrylamide / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000187:drug effects; D007774:Lactation; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D013154:Spleen / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D016708:Synaptophysin / Q000378:metabolism; D013737:Testis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D016708:Synaptophysin; D020106:Acrylamide