Abstract
The effects of acrylamide intoxication on the numbers of granule and Purkinje cells and the volume of Purkinje cell perikarya have been evaluated with stereological methods. The analysis was carried out in the cerebella of rats that had received a dose of 33.3 mg/kg acrylamide, twice a week, for 7.5 weeks. The total numbers of cerebellar granule and Purkinje cells were estimated using the optical fractionator and the mean volume of the Purkinje cell perikarya was estimated with the vertical rotator technique. The volumes of the molecular layer, the granular cell layer and the white matter were estimated using the Cavalierí principle. The mean weight of the cerebellum of the intoxicated rats was 7% lower than that of the controls rats (2P=0.001). The numbers of the Purkinje cells and granule cells were the same in both groups, but the mean volume of the perikarya of the Purkinje cells in the intoxicated rats was 10.5% less than that of the control group (2P=0.004). The volume of the granular cell layer was reduced by 15% (2P=0.006) but there were no differences in the volumes of the molecular layer and the white matter in the intoxicated and control animals.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Auld RB, Bedwell SF (1967) Peripheral neuropathy with sympathetic overactivity from industrial contact with acrylamide. Can Med Assoc J 96: 652–654
Baddeley AJ, Gundersen HJG, Cruz-Orive LM (1986) Estimation of surface area from vertical sections. J Microsc 142: 259–276
Beyer WH (1991) CRC standard mathematical tables and formulae, 29th edn. CRC Press, Boca Qaton,pp 113–114
Brændgaard H, Evans SM, Howard CV, Gundersen HJG (1990) The total number of neurons in the human neocortex unbiasedly estimated using optical disectors. J Microsc 157: 285–304
Cavanagh JB (1981) The pathokinetics of acrylamide intoxication: a reassessment of the problem. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 8: 315–336
Cavanagh JB, Gysberg MF (1983) Ultrastructural features of the Purkinje cell damage caused by acrylamide in the rat: a new phenomenon in cellular neuropathology. J Neurocytol 12: 413–437
Cavanagh JB, Nolan CC (1982) Selective loss of Purkinje cells from the rat cerebellum caused by acrylamide and the responses of β-glucuronidase and β-galactosidase. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 58: 210–214
Fullerton PM, Barnes JM (1966) Peripheral neuropathy in rats produced by acrylamide. Br J Ind Med 23: 210–221
Garland TO, Patterson MWH (1967) Six cases of acrylamide poisoning. Br Med J 4: 134–138
Ghetti B, Wisniewski HM, Cook RD, Schaumburg H (1973) Changes in the CNS after acute and chronic acrylamide intoxication. Am J Pathol 70: 78a
Gold BG, Griffin JW, Price DL (1992) Somatofugal axonal atrophy precedes development of axonal degeneration in acrylamide neuropathy. Arch Toxicol 66: 57–66
Gundersen HJG (1977) Notes on the estimation of the numerical density of arbitrary profiles: the edge effect. J Microsc 111: 219–223
Gundersen HJG (1986) Stereology of arbitrary particles. A review of unbiased number and size estimators and the presentation of some new ones, in memory of William R. Thompson. J Microsc 143: 3–45
Gundersen HJG, Jensen EBV (1987) The efficiency of systematic sampling in stereology and its prediction. J Microsc 147:229–263
Gundersen HJG, Bendtsen TF, Korbo L, Marcussen N, Møller A, Nielsen K, Nyengaard JR, Pakkenberg B, Sørensen FB, Vesterby A, West MJ (1988) Some new, simple and efficient stereological methods and their use in pathological research and diagnosis. APMIS 96: 379–394
Hamblin DO (1956) The toxicity of acrylamide. A preliminary report. In: Preséntation par le Prof Raymond Delaby Hommage du doyen René Fabre. S.E.D.E.S., Paris, pp 195–199
Hámori J, Szentágothai J (1966) Participation of Golgi neuron processes in the cerebellar glomeruli: an electron microscope study. Exp Brain Res 2: 35–48
Hashimoto K, Kurosaka Y, Tanii H, Hayashi M (1988) Immunohistochemical studies of acrylamide-associated neuropathology. Toxicology 49: 65–69
Igisu H, Goto I, Kawamura Y, Kato M, Izumi K, Kuroiwa Y (1975) Acrylamide encephaloneuropathy due to well water pollution. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 38: 581–584
Jensen EBV, Gundersen HJG (1993) The rotator. J Microsc 170:35–44
Kesson CM, Baird AW, Lawson DH (1977) Acrylamide poisoning. Postgrad Med J 53: 16–17
Kuperman AS (1958) Effects of acrylamide on the central nervous system of the cat. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 123: 180–192
McCollister DD, Oyen F, Rowe VK (1964) Toxicology of acrylamide. Toxic Appl Pharmacol 6: 172–181
Prineas J (1969) The pathogenesis of dying-back polyneuropathies. II. An ultrastructural study of experimental acrylamide intoxication in the cat. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 28: 598–621
Sabri MI, Dairman W, Fenton M, Juhasz L, Ng T, Spencer PS (1989) Effect of exogenous pyrovate on acrylamide neuropathy in rats. Brain Res 483: 1–11
Schaumburg HH, Wisniewski HM, Spencer PS (1974) Ultrastructural studies of the dying-back process. 1. Peripheral nerve terminal and axon degeneration in systemic acrylamide intoxication. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 33: 260–280
Spencer PS, Schaumburg HH (1977) Ultrastructural studies of the dying-back process. IV. Differential vulnerability of PNS and CNS fibres in experimental central peripheral distal axonopathies. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 36: 300–320
Tandrup T, Brændgaard H (1992) The number and mean volume of neurons in the cerebral cortex of rats intoxicated with acrylamide. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 18: 250–258
Tandrup T, Brændgaard H(1992) The number and mean volume of specified neuron subtypes in the dorsal root ganglion of rats intoxicated with acrylamide. Acta Neurol Scand 85 [Suppl]138
Weibel ER (1980) Surface density Sv and density of profile boundaries on section BA. In: Weibel ER (ed) Stereological methods, vol 2. Academic Press, New York, pp 68–70
West MJ (1993) New stereological methods for counting neurons. Neurobiol Aging 14: 275–285.
West MJ, Slomianka L, Gundersen HJG (1991) Unbiased stereological estimation of the total number of neurons in the subdivisions of the rat hippocampus using the optical fractionator. Anat Rec 231: 482–497
Yoshimura S, Imai K, Saitoh Y, Yamaguchi H, Ohtaki S (1992) The same chemicals induce different neurotoxicity when administered in high doses for short term or low doses for long term to rats and dogs. Mol Chem Neuropathol, 16: 59–84
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by grants from Aarhus University Research Foundation and the Danish Medical Research Council
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Larsen, J.O., Tandrup, T. & Brændgaard, H. The volume of Purkinje cells decreases in the cerebellum of acrylamide — intoxicated rats, but no cells are lost. Acta Neuropathol 88, 307–312 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310374
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310374