Acrylamide exposure causes DNA mutations in mouse fibroblasts

Acrylamide, a suspected human carcinogen recently identified in many fried and starch-based foods, generates a variety of DNA mutations in embryonic mouse cells, researchers report in the June 18th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In 2002, Swedish researchers reported that acrylamide could be found in a range of baked and fried foods, triggering a global furor. The chemical appears to be formed by exposing high-carbohydrate foods to high temperatures such as those used in baking and frying.Acrylamide has been reported to cause cancer in laboratory animals, but has never been linked to human cancer. In an in vitro study using embryonic mouse fibroblasts, genetically modified to contain a transgene, Drs. Ahmad Besaratinia and Gerd Pfeifer of the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, found that exposure to acrylamide increases mutations by up to twofold compared with exposure to a control agent.Specifically, fibroblasts exposed to acrylamide formed more DNA adducts at specific sites at the transgene. Acrylamide-exposed cells also formed a spectrum of genetic mutations that differed from mutations formed spontaneously, they add.”Acrylamide had distinct mutagenicity in transgenic mouse embryonic fibroblast cells, which might potentially be ascribed to its DNA adduct-inducing property,” they conclude. However, the investigators caution, “Whether acrylamide has the same effects on human cells is yet to be determined.”In an accompanying editorial, Drs. Fredrik Granath of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and Margareta Tornqvist of Stockholm University, note that “acrylamide or probably glycidamide, its genotoxic metabolite, has a relatively low mutagenic potency and is likely to have a relatively small impact on the overall cancer risk of an individual.””However, because rather high concentrations of acrylamide are found in frequently consumed foods, the total acrylamide burden to a population is large.” Furthermore, the “situation for vulnerable groups, e.g., pregnant women and children, should always be carefully considered,” they add.A U.S. public advocacy group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, is currently lobbying for limits on acrylamide in food. In tests of baby foods, cereals, cookies, crackers, infant formulas and other foods, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found that levels of acrylamide vary greatly.(Source: J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95:842-843,889-896: Reuters Health: June 18, 2003: Oncolink)