Study of the effect of acrylamide oil purkinje cells of the cerebellum in albino rats

الملخص EN

Objectives : Acrylamide has several toxic and carcinogenic effects.

The current research aimed to study the harmful effects of acrylamide on the structure of the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum in the albino rats, in an attempt to clarify its potential risk on the human health.

Methods : The study was performed at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia through the years 2008-2010.

A daily dose of 50 mg / kg body weight of acrylamide was administrated to adult male albino rats orally and intraperitoneally.

Their cerebella were obtained after two and four weeks of acrylamide administration, where serial sagittal sections were stained with H & E, and silver stains and examined microscopically.

Results : Rats treated with acrylamide 50 mg / kg body weight for two weeks showed mild degenerative changes in the form of diminished dendrites with less arborization of the Purkinje cells, while rats treated with the same dose for four weeks showed severe degenerative changes of Purkinje cells in the form of disintegrated dendrites and ill-defined arborization into the outer molecular layer.

Moreover, Purkinje cells bodies showed marked irregularity in cell boundary.

Silver staining showed deeply stained argyrophilic dendrites arborizing into the basal part of the outer molecular layer.

In addition, the Purkinje cells manifested a high affinity to silver so that they appeared brown in color, whether acrylamide was administered orally or intraperitoneally.

Conclusion : Exposure to acrylamide produced degenerative changes in the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum which were more prominent with the longer period of exposure.