title: Acrylamide alters glycogen content and enzyme activities in the liver of juvenile rat.
abstract: Acrylamide (AA) is spontaneously formed in carbohydrate-rich food during high-temperature processing. It is neurotoxic and potentially cancer causing chemical. Its harmful effects on the liver, especially in a young organism, are still to be elucidated. The study aimed to examine main liver histology, its glycogen content and enzyme activities in juvenile rats treated with 25 or 50mg/kg bw of AA for 3 weeks. Liver samples were fixed in formalin, routinely processed for paraffin embedding, sectioning and histochemical staining. Examination of haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained sections showed an increase in the volume of hepatocytes, their nuclei and cytoplasm in both AA-treated groups compared to the control. In Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-stained sections in low-dose group was noticed glycogen reduction, while in high-dose group was present its accumulation compared to the control, respectively. Serum analysis showed increased activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and decreased activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in both AA-treated groups, while the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was increased in low-dose, but decreased in high-dose group compared to the control, respectively. Present results suggest a prominent hepatotoxic potential of AA which might alter the microstructural features and functional status in hepatocytes of immature liver.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Vojvodina 21000, Serbia. Electronic address: renata.kovac@dbe.uns.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kovac
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Vojvodina 21000, Serbia. Electronic address: vesna.rajkovic@dbe.uns.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rajkovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Vojvodina 21000, Serbia. Electronic address: ivana.koledin@dbe.uns.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koledin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Vojvodina 21000, Serbia. Electronic address: milica.matavulj@dbe.uns.ac.rs.
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matavulj
mesh_terms: D020106:Acrylamide / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D006003:Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology*; D008297:Male; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D020106:Acrylamide; D006003:Glycogen
keywords: Acrylamide; Glycogen; Immature liver; Liver enzymes