Acrylamide (ACR) has become one of the major
public health concerns since it was detected in
widely consumed food items. The present study
investigates the effects of ACR on the skeletal
system of the prenatal foetuses of 20th day of
gestation of rat. The used rats were arranged in
five groups; Control group (C); males and
females rats administered orally distilled water.
G1; male rats orally administered 10 mg/kg of
ACR for consecutive 10 days and then they
allowed to mate with control females. G2 female
rats orally administered 10 mg/kg of ACR for
consecutive 10 days and then they allowed
mating with control males. G3 male and female
rats orally administered 10 mg/kg orally of ACR
orally for 10 consecutive days and then they
allowed mating with each other. G4 pregnant
female orally administered 10 mg/kg of ACR
orally at (1st
- 20th) day of pregnancy. At the 20th
day of gestation, the uteri were removed by
caesarean sections. For each mother, the
number of foetal swelling in each horn, living
and dead foetuses and early of late resorptions
were recorded. Early and late resorptions were
discerned according to their size. For
morphological studies, foetuses, either living or
dead were counted, weight and length
measured, then morphologically examined for
any external malformation. Foetuses showed
severe skeletal alterations included incomplete
ossification for some bones of skull, vertebrae,
fore and hind limbs and significant reduction in
the length of most long bones of both limbs.
The alterations indicated that ACR treatment
induced growth retardation confirmed by great
reduction in body weight and body length. The
results suggest that ACR has teratogenic
effects on parentally treated 20-day-old albino
rat foetuses. |
