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Autoclave sterilization produces acrylamide in rodent diets: implications for toxicity testing
Nathan C Twaddle1, Mona I Churchwell, L Patrice McDaniel
1National Center for Toxicological Research, U S Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, Arkansas 72079, USA.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
|June 24, 2004
Summary
Autoclaving rodent diets significantly increases acrylamide (AA) levels, a neurotoxic and carcinogenic contaminant. This dietary exposure leads to AA
Area of Science:
- Toxicology and Food Safety
- Analytical Chemistry
- Laboratory Animal Science
Background:
- Acrylamide (AA) is a neurotoxic and carcinogenic food contaminant formed during cooking.
- Accurate risk assessment in rodents requires strict control of dietary exposures.
- Standard autoclaving of rodent diets can inadvertently increase AA contamination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate an analytical method for measuring endogenous AA in rodent diets.
- To quantify AA levels in commercially available rodent diets.
- To investigate the toxicokinetics and genotoxicity of AA from autoclaved diets in mice.
Main Methods:
- Liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) for AA quantification.
- Comparison of AA levels in autoclaved (NIH-31) versus irradiated (NIH-31IR) rodent diets.
- Toxicokinetic study in mice involving diet switch, serum analysis, and DNA adduct measurement.
Main Results:
- Autoclaving increased AA in NIH-31 diet from 17 to 240 ppb; irradiated NIH-31IR contained ~10 ppb.
- AA and its metabolite glycidamide showed similar toxicokinetic profiles in mice.
- Mice on autoclaved diet exhibited elevated liver DNA adducts, indicating genotoxicity.
Conclusions:
- Heat sterilization (autoclaving) of rodent diets significantly elevates AA levels.
- Dietary AA is bioavailable, distributed to tissues, and metabolically activated to genotoxic forms.
- Using irradiated diets is critical to minimize endogenous AA for accurate toxicity studies.