Background: Acrylamide (ACR) is a common toxicant. One of the most critical worldwide health issues right now is the exposure of individuals and animals to ACR through their diet. Dietary antioxidants have received attention as potential preventive strategy and as a nutritional supplement for addressing various ACR-induced toxicities.
Aim of work: Studying the potential protective effect of Mito-TEMPO (MT) a selective mitochondrial antioxidant on acrylamide induced lingual toxicity.
Study design: Thirty two adult male rats were separated into 3 sets. Group I (control group). Group II (ACR group): Rats were treated with 40 mg/kg/d acrylamide that was dissolved in physiological saline and given orally by gavage for 14 days. Group III (ACR+ MT group): Rats were treated as group II and were injected with 0.7 mg/kg of Mito-TEMPO (ip) once/day for 2 days before acrylamide and continued with acrylamide for another 14 days. It was given 30 minutes before acrylamide.
Results: Acrylamide intoxicated group revealed significant decline (P<0.001) in the antioxidant enzymes levels, with marked degenerative changes in the dorsal, ventral and muscle core at the level of light and electron microscopic examination involved degenerated papillae, thin keratin layer, dorsal epithelial metaplasia, disfigured muscle core, congested blood vessels and atrophied ventral mucous membranes. Moreover, there was significant rise (P<0.001) in COX-2, IL1-β and P53 immunoexpression in examined lingual tissues. Mito-TEMPO pretreated group showed significant rise (P<0.001) in the antioxidant enzymes with apparent improvement in the histological structure involved restored papillae, nearly normal muscle core and mucous membranes, with significant decline (P<0.001) in COX-2, IL1-β and P53 immunoexpression.
Conclusion: Mito-TEMPO revealed potential protective effect on acrylamide induced lingual toxicity.