Investigation of acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity in peripheral nerves using neurobiophysical methods

Title: Investigation of acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity in peripheral nerves by neurobiophysical methods. Objective: Acrylamide has proven neurotoxic effects in both humans and experimental animals. Acrylamide exposure affects both the central and peripheral nervous system, and the mechanisms underlying acrylamide induced neuropathy are not fully known. In this study, it was aimed to measure the nerve conduction parameters and nerve excitability indicators of acrylamide in the rat sciatic nerve and to examine it by neurobiophysical methods. Method: In the experiments, 20 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups as the control group (saline i.p., KON) and the experimental group (acrylamide i.p., AKR) with 10 animals in each group. While acrylamide was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) for 11 days at an amount of 50 mg/kg/day dissolved in saline to the experimental group, the same amount of saline was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) to the control group. On the 12th day, blood serum samples were taken, and recording experiments of nerve excitability and compound action potential parameters were performed. Results: Obtained neurobiophysical findings showed that acrylamide caused a significant decrease in rat sciatic nerve compound action potential amplitude, area and conduction velocities. Biochemical parameters showed that the source of this effect was oxidative stress. Histopathological examination showed decreased nerve fiber diameter, myelin sheath thickness and axon diameter. Conclusion: Acrylamide neurotoxicity causes oxidative stress-induced functional and structural changes in peripheral nerves. Keywords: Acrylamide, neurotoxicity, nerve conduction velocity, compound action potential, rat