Subchronic exposure to acrylamide affects colon mucin secretion in juvenile wistar rats

Abstract

Acrylamide (AA) is an important industrial chemical worldwide. AA also forms naturally in many high-carbohydrate foods (bread, French fries, coffee, etc.) when they are heated. Since AA is ubiquitous in the human diet, and more than one-third of the calories we take in each day come from foods with detectable levels of acrylamide, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of subchronic AA treatment on colon goblet cell mucin secretion. Male Wistar rats were gavaged with AA for 5 days a week for 21 days. The animals were divided into three groups that were gavaged with different AA concentrations (0, 25, 50 mg/kg/day). Colon samples were processed for histochemical (PAS-AB, HID-AB) and immunohistochemical (anti-rat MUC2 antibody) staining to visualize mucins in the goblet cells. AA treatment showed an alteration in mucin production and secretion in that the amount of all investigated mucin types dropped. More prominent changes were detected in the upper crypt part where a decreased number of goblet cell was observed. AA treatment elicited a significant reduction in neutral mucins, while acidic mucins showed linearly decreasing trend with respect to AA doses. Also, a linear reduction of MUC2 mucins was noticed. Sulfomucins were absent in the colon lower crypt in all experimental groups, while in the upper crypt both sulfo- and sialomucins were significantly decreased. The results of our study point to changes in the synthesis, differentiation and distribution of mucins after AA treatment, which can have adverse effect on colorectal health.