OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study is to investigate hepatic and renal toxicity of acrylamide (ACR) , the antagonistic effect and possible mechanism of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on the toxicity.

METHODSForty female SD rats were randomly divided into four groups. All the rats were administrated by intraperitoneal(i.p.) injection and 1.5 hours later by gavage. The control group was administrated with 0.9% NaCl by i.p. injection and gavaged with 0.9% NaCl. The NAC group was administrated with 200 mg/kg NAC by injection and gavaged with 0.9% NaCl. The ACR group was administrated with 0.9% NaCl by injection and gavaged with 40 mg/kg ACR. The combined treatment group was administrated with 200 mg/kg NAC by i.p. injection and gavaged with 40 mg/kg ACR. The rats were administrated once a day for 2 weeks. After 24 hours of the last administration, the rats were decapitated. The blood was collected, the liver and kidney were separated. The body weight, organ coefficient and serum biochemical parameters were measured, and the pathological changes of the tissues were examined with a microscope. Then the expression of NF-κB p65, IκB-α and COX-2 were detected by Western blot.

RESULTSFrom the second day to the end of the exposure, the body weight of rats in the ACR group was statistically lower than that in the control group (P<0.05) . Compared with the combined treatment group, the body weight in the ACR group statistically decreased in the second and third days (P < 0.05) . The liver and kidney organ coefficients in the ACR group were (4.159%±.371%) and (0.764%±0.068%) respectively, which increased statistically when compared with the control group (P < 0.05) . The contents of ALT, AST and Cr in the serum in the ACR group were (77.370±16.397) U/L、(379.410±57.817) U/L and (77.812±6.391) μmol/L respectively, which were not significantly different with those in the control group and the combined treatment group (P>0.05) . The content of BUN in the serum in the ACR group was (7.005±1.009) mmol/L, which was statistically higher than that in the control group (P<0.05) . Histopathology results showed unclear boundary and nucleus pyknosis in hepatocytes, loose and disordered structures of hepatic cords in the ACR group, but no obvious pathology changes were observed in the kidneys of each group. In the Western blot results, the expression of nuclear NF-κB p65 and COX-2 in the liver in the ACR group was statistically higher than that in the control group and the combined treatment group (P<0.05) , and the expression of IκB-α in the liver in the ACR group statistically decreased compared with the control group and the combined treatment group (P<0.05) . The expression of total NF-κB p65 in the liver in the ACR group was statistically higher than that in the control group (P<0.05) .

CONCLUSIONUnder the conditions of this experiment, ACR may induce hepatic toxicity through the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway, and NAC could antagonize the hepatic toxicity of ACR by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway, whereas the toxic effect of ACR on kidney needs to be further studied.