Acrylamide Causes DNA Damage in Tissue Culture Cells

Researchers working with a mouse embryonic fibroblast model have found that acrylamide causes the formation of DNA adducts and introduces mutations into the DNA of a transgene carried by the fibroblasts.

Acrylamide is a potent nerve toxin in humans and also affects male reproduction and causes birth defects and cancer in animals. Investigators at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope National Medical Center (Duarte, CA, USA) treated mouse embryonic fibroblasts growing in tissue culture with micromolar or millimolar doses of acrylamide. Control cells were treated with distilled water. The effect of the treatment was evaluated by examining damage caused to the DNA of a transgene carried by the fibroblasts.

The study, which was published in the June 18, 2003, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, revealed that treatment of the cells with acrylamide at millimolar concentrations induced DNA adducts along the cII gene. Treatment with acrylamide at micromolar concentrations increased the frequency of mutations in the cII gene up to twofold relative to control treatment. While some of the frequently mutated sites in the cII gene co-localized with sites of preferential DNA adduct formation, there was no direct relationship.

The authors concluded, "Acrylamide had distinct mutagenicity in transgenic mouse embryonic fibroblast cells, which might potentially be ascribed to its DNA adduct-inducing property. Whether acrylamide has the same effects on human cells is yet to be determined.”




Related Links:
City of Hope National Medical Center