Neurotoxicity

The aim of this study was to characterize the toxic effect of acrylamide (ACR) on sciatic nerve and brain of rats; and examine the protective effect of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) and vitamin-E on sciatic nerve and cerebrum injury induced by acrylamide. This study was performed at King Fahad Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A total of 49 adult wistar rats (250 ± 20g) of 60 days age were divided into seven groups (control, acrylamide alone, acrylamide + 5-ASA, acrylamide + vitamin -E, acrylamide + 5-ASA + vitamin-E, vitamin-E alone, 5-ASA alone). After 5 days of acrylamide treatment, rats were observed for 24 hours and sacrificed. Histopathology for the brain and sciatic nerve were performed. Administration of acrylamide produced neuronal damage in rats. No significant changes were observed in lactate dehydrogenase serum level and rats’ body weight. Injection of acrylamide treated rats with vitamin-E and 5-ASA concomitantly showed strong improvement in general histology of neurons. However, good improvement in morphology of sciatic nerve was observed after injection of 5-ASA to ACR-treated rats. Compared to this improvement by 5-ASA, treatment of vitamin-E to ACR-treated rats also exhibited marked improvement in morphology of sciatic nerve (myelin  and vacuolar-like degeneration).  We concluded that ACR induced neuronal damage in nervous tissue of rats mainly by the induction of lipid peroxidation. 5-ASA and vitamin E as powerful antioxidants, played a protective role against acrylamide neurotoxicity. On histological level, Vitamin-E showed more protection in comparison to 5-ASA.