Investigation of the effects of acrylamide, administered during pregnancy on the fetal brain development and protective role of vitamine E in rats

Introduction and Purpose: A liberal amount of acrylamide is produced as a result of frying or baking foods in high temperatures and individuals take certain amounts of acrylamide everyday by consuming these food items. Pregnant women are also exposed to acrylamide originating from food during pregnancy and their babies are probably affected. This study would attempt to determine the effects of acrylamide applied to rats during pregnancy on fetal brain development and brain-derived neurotrophic factor synthesis, hence to identify the neurotoxic mechanism of action of acrylamide, and would test the protective effects of the vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant and neuroprotective agent, against the possible damage that acrylamide would cause in the fetal brain. Materials and Methodology: 40 young female Wistar albino rats weighing 250 grams each that were bred in İnönü University, Faculty of Medicine, Experimental Animals Breeding and Research Center were used in the study. For this research, it was taken ethical approval from the experimental animals ethics committee of Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, TURKEY (Approval no: 2015/ A–21). (The rats were made pregnant). The rats were divided into five different groups of control, corn oil, vitamin E, acrylamide, and vitamin E + acrylamide with 8 pregnant rats in each group. 100 mg/kg/day body weight vitamin E dissolved in corn oil with oral gavage; 5 mg/kg/day body weight acrylamide dissolved in drinking water with oral gavage were administered to the 40 pregnant rats, which were determined as pregnant (+) by vaginal smear test, during the 1-20th days of the pregnancy. Rats were fed ad libitum during the experiment. On the 20th day of pregnancy, fetuses were removed using Caesar section. Morphological development parameters of the fetus obtained by Caesar section from all groups were measured. The levels of malondialdehyde (end-product of lipid peroxidation), reduced glutathione, total antioxidant capacity, total oxidant capacity, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor were analyzed and histopathological examinations were performed in brain tissue of the fetus obtained by Caesar section from all groups. Findings: Comparison of control group and study group data identified that acrylamide application damaged fetal development by suppressing fetal development parameters; caused degeneration in neuron structures in fetal brain tissue and caused hemorrhagic damages; dramatically decreased BNDF levels; increased malondialdehyde, total oxidant capacity levels and decreased reduced glutathione, total antioxidant capacity levels. On the other hand, it was determined that the vitamin E, a neuro-protectant and a powerful antioxidant, suppressed the effects of acrylamide on fetal development and fetal brain tissue damage in the above mentioned parameters. Result: It is highly recommended to consume food containing vitamin E as a protection to minimize the toxic effects of food-oriented acrylamide on fetus development due to the widespread nature of fast-food culture in Turkey in today's life and the impossibility of protection from acrylamide toxicity.