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The carcinogenicity of acrylamide.

Acrylamide is carcinogenic to experimental mice and rats, causing tumors at multiple organ sites in both species when given in drinking water or by other means. In mice, acrylamide increases the incidence of alveologenic lung tumors and initiates skin tumors after dermal exposures. In two bioassays in rats, acrylamide administered in drinking water consistently induced peritesticular mesotheliomas, thyroid follicular cell tumors, and mammary gland tumors, as well as primary brain tumors when all such tumors were included in data analysis. In one of the rat bioassays, increased numbers of adrenal pheochromocytomas, adenomas of pituitary and clitoral glands, papillomas of the oral cavity, and adenocarcinomas of the uterus also occurred. In both humans and experimental animals, a significant fraction of ingested acrylamide is converted metabolically to the chemically reactive and genotoxic epoxide, glycidamide, which is likely to play an important role in the carcinogenicity of acrylamide. No studies on the carcinogenicity of glycidamide have been published, but bioassays of this compound are in progress. Epidemiologic studies of possible health effects from exposures to acrylamide have not produced consistent evidence of increased cancer risk, in either occupationally exposed workers or the general populations of several countries in which acrylamide is present in certain foods and beverages. A doubling of risk for pancreatic cancer was observed in the most highly exposed workers within the largest industrial cohort, but no consistent exposure-response relationships were identified. Retrospective re-analyses of previously conducted case-control studies of cancer incidence in several European populations have identified no causal relationship between consumption of foods or beverages that contain acrylamide and the incidence of cancers at various sites including kidney, large bowel, urinary bladder, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast, and ovary. These retrospective studies of cancer incidence in relation to acrylamide in food have limited power to detect increased cancer risks, and have been criticized on various grounds, but they do indicate that no major cancer risks are attributable to intake of acrylamide in Western diets.

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Acrylamide in gingerbread: critical factors for formation and possible ways for reduction.

The influence of ingredients, additives, and process conditions on acrylamide formation in gingerbread was investigated. The sources for reducing sugars and free asparagine were identified, and the effect of different baking agents on acrylamide formation was evaluated. Ammonium hydrogencarbonate strongly enhanced acrylamide formation, but its N atom was not incorporated into acrylamide, nor did acrylic acid form acrylamide in gingerbread. Acrylamide concentration and browning intensity both increased with baking time and correlated with each other. The use of sodium hydrogencarbonate as baking agent reduced the acrylamide concentration by >60%. Free asparagine was a limiting factor for acrylamide formation, but the acrylamide content could also be lowered by replacing reducing sugars with sucrose or by adding organic acids. It is concluded that a significant reduction of acrylamide in gingerbread can be achieved by using sodium hydrogencarbonate as baking agent, minimizing free asparagine, and avoiding prolonged baking.

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A review of acrylamide: an industry perspective on research, analysis, formation, and control.

Acrylamide is a synthetic monomer with a wide scope of industrial applications, mainly as a precursor in the production of several polymers, such as polyacrylamide. The main uses of polyacrylamides are in water and wastewater treatment processes, pulp and paper processing, and mining and mineral processing. The announcement by the Swedish National Food Administration in April 2002 of the presence of acrylamide predominantly in heat-treated carbohydrate-rich foods sparked intensive investigations into acrylamide, encompassing the occurrence, chemistry, agricultural practices, and toxicology, in order to establish if there is a potential risk to human health from the presence of this contaminant in the human diet. The link of acrylamide in foods to the Maillard reaction and, in particular, to the amino acid asparagine has been a major step forward in elucidating the first feasible chemical route of formation during the preparation and processing of food. Other probably minor pathways have also been proposed, including acrolein and acrylic acid. This review addresses the analytical and mechanistic aspects of the acrylamide issue and summarizes the progress made to date by the European food industries in these key areas. Essentially, it presents experimental results generated under laboratory model conditions, as well as under actual food processing conditions covering different food categories, such as potatoes, biscuits, cereals, and coffee. Since acrylamide formation is closely linked to food composition, factors such as the presence of sugars and availability of free amino acids are also considered. Many new findings that contribute towards a better understanding of the formation and presence of acrylamide in foods are presented. Many national authorities across the world are assessing the dietary exposure of consumers to acrylamide, and scientific projects have commenced to gather new information about the toxicology of acrylamide. These are expected to provide new scientific knowledge that will help to clarify whether or not there is a risk to human health from the consumption of foods containing low amounts of acrylamide.

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Inhalation exposures to acrylamide in biomedical laboratories.

This study evaluated airborne acrylamide exposures experienced by laboratory personnel using either crystalline or commercially available solutions of acrylamide to make polyacrylamide gels. Exposures were monitored for a short-term (15-min) sampling period, during the weighing of the crystalline acrylamide or the removal of the acrylamide solution from its original container, and a long-term period, during which a sample was collected for as long as the subject was potentially exposed to acrylamide. Mean air concentrations for the 15-min exposures were 7.20 +/- 5.64 micrograms/m3 and 5.81 +/- 4.53 micrograms/m3 for the users of crystalline and solution acrylamide, respectively, although this difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Mean concentrations for the long-term exposures were 12.77 +/- 24.20 micrograms/m3 for workers employing crystalline acrylamide and 4.22 +/- 7.05 micrograms/m3 for personnel using acrylamide solutions. This difference was also not statistically significant. Although the results indicate that the research laboratory personnel were generally exposed to measurable concentrations of acrylamide, with several subjects exposed to elevated levels, the calculated 8-hour time-weighted average exposures were below current occupational exposure limits. However, because the neurotoxic effects of acrylamide are cumulative and it is a suspected carcinogen, all exposures should be kept as low as reasonably achievable.

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Risk assessment of acrylamide in foods.

Daily mean intakes of acrylamide present in foods and coffee in a limited Norwegian exposure assessment study have been estimated to be 0.49 and 0.46 microg per kg body weight in males and females, respectively. Testicular mesotheliomas and mammary gland adenomas have consistently been found in 2-year drinking water rat cancer studies with acrylamide. Acrylamide also shows initiating activity in mouse skin after systemic administration. Since acrylamide is converted to the mutagenic metabolite glycidamide and forms adducts to hemoglobin in rodents and humans, the tumorigenic endpoints in rats were assumed to be an expression of acrylamide genotoxicity. Using the default linear extrapolation methods LED10 and T25, the lifetime cancer hazard after lifelong exposure to 1 microg acrylamide per kg body weight per day, scaled to humans, was calculated to be, on average, 1.3 x 10-3. Using this hazard level and correlating it with the exposure estimates, a lifetime cancer risk related to daily intake of acrylamide in foods for 70 years in males was calculated to be 0.6 x 10-3, implying that 6 out of 10,000 individuals may develop cancer due to acrylamide. For females, the risk values were slightly lower. It must be emphasized that this risk assessment is conservative. A number of processes may result in nonlinearity of the dose-response relationships for acrylamide carcinogenicity in the low-dose region, including detoxication reactions, cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, apoptosis, and immune surveillance. Thus, the true risk levels related to acrylamide intake may be considerably lower.

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Nervous system degeneration produced by acrylamide monomer.

Acrylamide, widely employed as a vinyl monomer in the polymer industry, is a potent neurotoxin to man and to animals. The cumulative effect of prolonged, low-level exposure to acrylamide monomer is the insidious development of a progressive peripheral neuropathy. Sensory symptoms begin in the hands and feet (numbness, pins and needles), certain reflexes are lost and, with severe exposure, muscle weakness and atrophy occur in the extremities. The peripheral neuropathy may be supplemented by symptoms indicative of central nervous system damage (ataxia, tremor, somnolence and mental changes). The neuropathologic basis for this clinical picture has been determined in cats. Here, chronic acrylamide intoxication produces selective peripheral and central nerve fiber degeneration. Degeneration first occurs in the extremities of long and large nerve fibers which later undergo a progressive, seriate proximal axonal degeneration known as dying-back. Especially vulnerable are sensory axons supplying Pacinian corpuscles and muscle spindles in the hindfoot toepads, while adjacent motor nerve axons die back later. Distal central nerve fiber degeneration is seen in the medulla and the cerebellum. The neurotoxic property of acrylamide is of practical concern in two areas. One major problem is the protection of factory workers engaged in the manufacture of acrylamide. A sensitive test of neurologic function in these individuals, i.e., touch sensation, based on the experimental observation of the exquisite vulnerability of Pacinian corpuscles in acrylamide intoxicated cats, is presently under consideration. The second area for concern is the exposure of the populace to minute amounts of neurotoxic acrylamide monomer which contaminate acrylamide polymers currently deployed in the environment. Federal restrictions on the maximum permitted exposure to acrylamide, based on a largely clinical study of acrylamide neurotoxicity conducted ten years ago, may require a re-evaluation in the light of recent advances which have pinpointed the initial sites of nerve fiber degeneration.

Acrylamides↗

Studies on the stability of acrylamide in food during storage.

Acrylamide levels in a variety of food samples were analyzed before and after 3 months of storage at 10 degrees-12 degrees C. The analysis was performed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) using deuterium-labeled acrylamide as internal standard. Acrylamide was stable in most matrixes (cookies, cornflakes, crispbread, raw sugar, potato crisps, peanuts) over time. However, slight decreases were determined for dietary biscuits (83-89%) and for licorice confection (82%). For coffee and cacao powder, a significant decrease occurred during storage for 3 or 6 months, respectively. Acrylamide concentrations dropped from 305 to 210 microg/kg in coffee and from 265 to 180 microg/kg in cacao powder. On the contrary, acrylamide remained stable in soluble coffee as well as in coffee substitutes. Reactions of acrylamide with SH group-containing substances were assumed as the cause for acrylamide degradation in coffee and cacao. Spiking experiments with acrylamide revealed that acrylamide concentrations remained stable in baby food, cola, and beer; however, recovery levels dropped in milk powder (71%), sulfurized apricot (53%), and cacao powder (17%). These observations suggest that variations in the acrylamide content of food, especially in coffee and cacao, can vary depending on the storage time because special food constituents and/or reaction products can affect the levels.

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The effect of acrylamide and other sulfhydryl alkylators on the ability of dynein and kinesin to translocate microtubules in vitro.

Chronic exposure to acrylamide leads to a dying-back axonopathy afflicting the longest axons of all tested mammalian and avian species. Prior to the onset of acrylamide-induced axonal degeneration, alterations in axonal fast transport have been consistently reported to be more severe for the retrograde than the anterograde direction. The putative retrograde motor protein, dynein, is compromised by exposure to the sulfhydryl-alkylating agent N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) at concentrations far below those required to inactivate kinesin, the putative anterograde motor protein. Since acrylamide is capable of alkylating protein sulfhydryl moieties, we tested whether a direct exposure of purified kinesin or dynein to acrylamide would result in an impairment of either enzyme's ability to translocate microtubules. Motor activity was assayed by sequentially adsorbing either kinesin or dynein to acid-washed coverslips, treating with an alkylating agent or control solution, adding microtubules and ATP, and finally imaging and quantifying the binding and gliding of microtubules using video-enhanced differential interference contrast (VE-DIC) microscopy. In comparison to controls, incubation of dynein with NEM, ethacrynic acid, or iodoacetic acid resulted in dose-dependent decreases in the amount and rate of microtubule gliding, but increases in irreversible high-affinity microtubule binding. In contrast, exposure of dynein to 1-100 mM solutions of acrylamide did not significantly alter either the binding or gliding of microtubules (a molar/hour exposure to acrylamide equivalent to 50 times that which causes retrograde transport deficits in vivo). Likewise, kinesin motility parameters were not significantly affected by acrylamide concentrations up to 100 mM while NEM solutions > 100 microM led to significant losses in the ability of kinesin to bind MT. These data indicate that acrylamide does not significantly interact with bound (adsorbed) kinesin or dynein, implying that the mechanism by which acrylamide interferes with fast axonal transport in vivo is by interaction with other factor(s) that govern the movement of vesicles.

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The impact of dose rate on the neurotoxicity of acrylamide: the interaction of administered dose, target tissue concentrations, tissue damage, and functional effects.

Health agencies are often required to predict the effects of long term low level exposure in humans based on annual data involving short-term high-level exposures. Uncertainties in extrapolation can be, in part, based on potentially different mechanism associated with different exposure scenarios. This study evaluated the adequacy of short-term exposures to acrylamide for predicting neurotoxicity produced by long-term exposures. The neurotoxic effects of acrylamide (ip) were assessed in rats after acute (0-150 mg/kg), 10-day (0-30 mg/kg), 30-day (0-20 mg/kg), and 90-day (0-10 mg/kg) exposures. Behavioral endpoints included motor activity, grip strength, and the acoustic startle response. Histological examination of sciatic nerve and spinal cord was also performed. Internal and target tissue doses were estimated by measurement of the concentration of acrylamide in serum and sciatic nerve. Functional and pathological results demonstrated that the effects of acrylamide depended on the dose rate and that the neurotoxicity of acrylamide was less than that predicted by a strict dose x time relationship. Behavioral endpoints showed both qualitative and quantitative changes as a function of dose rate. Recovery of behavioral function in these studies was independent of the duration of dosing. Because duration of dosing had no impact on the kinetics of acrylamide, these data indicate that the toxicity of acrylamide is not due to an accumulation of acrylamide in the target tissue. The less than strict cumulative toxicity of acrylamide may result from an interaction between administered dose, tissue damage, and repair processes.

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Formation of hemoglobin adducts of acrylamide and its epoxide metabolite glycidamide in the rat.

A method was developed for the determination of hemoglobin (Hb) adducts formed by the neurotoxic agent acrylamide and its mutagenic epoxide metabolite glycidamide. The method was based on simultaneous measurements of the cysteine adducts formed by these two agents by means of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in hydrolyzed hemoglobin samples. Rats were injected ip with acrylamide or glycidamide in doses ranging from 0 to 100 mg/kg body wt, and the hemoglobin adduct levels were determined. The hemoglobin binding index of acrylamide to cysteine was found to be 6400 pmol (g Hb)-1/mumol (kg body wt)-1, higher than for any other substance studied so far in the rat, and 1820 pmol (g Hb)-1/mumol (kg body wt)-1 for glycidamide. In rats injected with acrylamide, formation of adducts of the parent compound was approximately linear with dose (0-100 mg/kg), whereas adducts of the epoxide metabolite glycidamide generated a concave curve, presumably reflecting the Michaelis-Menten kinetics of its formation. On the basis of the rate constants for cysteine adduct formation determined in vitro, the first-order rates of elimination of acrylamide and glycidamide from the blood compartment of rats were estimated to be 0.37 and 0.48 hr-1, respectively, using a linear kinetic model. It was further estimated that the percentage of acrylamide converted to glycidamide in the rat decreased from 51% following administration of 5 mg/kg to 13% after a dose of 100 mg/kg. Subchronic treatment of rats with acrylamide (10 mg/kg/day for 10 days or 3.3 mg/kg/day for 30 days) confirmed that the conversion rate of acrylamide to glycidamide, as determined from hemoglobin adduct formation, is higher at low-administered doses. These findings suggest that dose-rate effects may significantly affect risk estimates of this compound and that different low-dose extrapolation procedures should be employed for effects induced by the parent compound acrylamide and those induced by the metabolite glycidamide.

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Comparison of toxicities of acrylamide and 2,5-hexanedione in hens and rats on 3-week dosing regimens.

Survival rates, changes in body weight, gait/ataxia scores, and neuropathological lesions were compared between adult Long-Evans rats and adult White Leghorn hens given equivalent dosages of the peripheral neurotoxicants acrylamide and 2,5-hexanedione (12, 25, and 50 mg/kg acrylamide 3 times per week; or 75, 105, 150, 225, or 350 mg 2,5-hexanedione/kg/d, with hens receiving the lowest 3 dosages of 2,5-hexanedione and rats receiving the highest 3 dosages of this test compound). All rats survived the 3-wk acrylamide study period, although those given 50 mg/kg did not gain weight and showed alterations in gait. Hens given 50 mg/kg acrylamide were moribund by 2 wk and were sacrificed before the end of the 3-wk study period. By this time they had lost 29 +/- 3% of their body weight, but none showed significant renal or hepatic lesions on necropsy. Hens given all doses of acrylamide showed dose-related ataxia, weakness, and depression. Gait changes were seen in rats given the high dose of acrylamide for the 3-wk test period. Neuropathological studies revealed that both rats and hens given acrylamide had distal myelinated fibers with dose-related neurofilament-rich axonal swelling and Wallerian-like degeneration, better developed in the rodents. In addition, high-dose acrylamide rats had recent necrosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells. Deaths occurred in all groups of hens given 2,5-hexanedione (75, 105, or 150 mg/kg) before sacrifice at 3 wk, but all rats given 2,5-hexanedione (150, 225, 350 mg/kg) survived a 4-wk study period, even though gait changes were evident in the 225 and 350 mg/kg dosage groups by 3 wk. Neither hens nor rats dosed with 2,5-hexanedione for 3 wk had significant neuropathic lesions, although the hens showed dose-related ataxia, weakness, and depression. Early neurofilamentous intraaxonal masses in distal levels of selected myelinated tracts were seen in rats given the high dose of 2,5-hexanedione for an additional week. These studies suggest that hens are sensitive to acrylamide and 2,5-hexanedione toxicities, and that the rat is more likely than the hen to develop neuropathological lesions.

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The use of rat brain slices as an in vitro model for mechanistic evaluation of neurotoxicity-studies with acrylamide.

Biochemical mechanisms underlying acrylamide induced neurotoxicity were examined using an in vitro model consisting of sagittal slices of rat brain. Incubation of brain slices under oxygen in artificial cerebrospinal fluid containing acrylamide produced a dose and time dependent inhibition of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Lysosomal enzymes, acid phosphatase, N-acetyl glucosaminidase and beta-glucuronidase decreased in a similar manner, while no changes were observed in the activity of Na+K+ATPase, cytochrome c oxidase and lactate dehydrogenase. Incubation of slices with two structurally related compounds, acetamide (a non-neurotoxic amide) and methylene bis-acrylamide (a weak neurotoxin), indicated that acrylamide selectively inhibited GAPDH, enolase and N-acetyl glucosaminidase at low concentration; similar doses of acetamide and methylene bis-acrylamide did not have the same effect on brain slices. Incubation with acrylamide depleted glutathione levels in slices, and the addition of glutathione to the incubation medium prevented acrylamide induced inhibition of GAPDH and lysosomal enzymes. Time dependent inhibition of lysosomal enzymes was also observed in vivo, in the brain and sciatic nerve of rats following a single dose of acrylamide. These results demonstrate that both in vitro and in vivo, lysosomal enzymes are also inhibited following acrylamide exposure. The rat brain slice model exhibits both selectivity and sensitivity towards neurotoxicants and hence, may prove to be an useful in vitro model for the mechanistic evaluation of neurotoxicity.

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Prospective study of dietary acrylamide and risk of colorectal cancer among women.

There has been considerable discourse about whether exposure to acrylamide in foods could increase the risk of human cancer. Acrylamide is classified as a probable human carcinogen, and animal studies have demonstrated an increased incidence of tumors in rats exposed to very high levels. Still, epidemiologic data of the effect of dietary acrylamide remain scant. We have undertaken the first prospective study of acrylamide in food and risk of colon and rectal cancers using prospective data from the Swedish Mammography Cohort. The cohort comprised 61,467 women at baseline between 1987 and 1990. Through 2003, the cohort contributed 823,072 person-years, and 504 cases of colon and 237 of rectal cancer occurred. Mean intake of acrylamide through diet was 24.6 mug/day (Q25-70 = 18.7-29.9). Coffee (44%), fried potato products (16%), crisp bread (15%) and other breads (12%) were the greatest contributors. After adjusting for potential confounders, there was no association between estimated acrylamide intake and colorectal cancer. Comparing extreme quintiles, the adjusted relative risks (95% CI; p for trend) were for colorectal cancer 0.9 (0.7-1.3; p = 0.80), colon cancer 0.9 (0.6-1.4; p = 0.83) and rectal cancer 1.0 (0.6-1.8; p = 0.77). Furthermore, intake of specific food items with elevated acrylamide (e.g., coffee, crisp bread and fried potato products) was not associated with cancer risk. In this large prospective study, we found no evidence that dietary intake of acrylamide is associated with cancers of the colon or rectum. Epidemiologic studies play an important role in assessing the possible health effects of acrylamide intake through food.

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Pyrolytic acrylamide formation from purified wheat gluten and gluten-supplemented wheat bread rolls.

Recent studies have revealed different acrylamide formation mechanisms, e. g. from carnosine (N-beta-alanyl-L-histidine) and aminopropionamide as additional precursors. The occurrence of acrylamide in food matrices devoid of common precursors such as meat supports an additional formation pathway. Gluten was recovered from wheat flour by water extraction. Starch, reducing sugars and amino acids were removed using alpha-amylase and NaCl solution and were completely absent in the purified gluten fraction. The gluten was dry heated at temperatures ranging from 160 to 240 degrees C for 8 to 12 min and analyzed for acrylamide and cinnamic amide using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Acrylamide could be detected up to 3997 microg/kg gluten dry weight. Cinnamic amide was detected and unambiguously identified in the gluten samples, thus confirming the proposed formation of acrylamide from proteins. After gluten addition to bread roll dough, protein pyrolysis to form acrylamide in the complex food matrix was assessed. Contents of asparagine and reducing sugars were diminished due to the addition of the gluten. In contrast to the expectation with respect to the well-established common formation mechanism of acrylamide, it increased from 53.4 to 63.9 microg/kg (+20%), which was in good correlation with the higher proportion of gluten. As demonstrated by the t-test, the increase in acrylamide was significant when comparing 0 and 15% gluten addition. Additionally, cinnamic amide could be found in crusts of bread rolls. Thus, evidence for pyrolytic formation of acrylamide from wheat gluten was provided.

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Acrylamide exposure from foods of the Dutch population and an assessment of the consequent risks.

At the end of April 2002, the Swedish Food Administration reported the presence of acrylamide in heat treated food products. Acrylamide has been shown to be toxic and carcinogenic in animals, and has been classified by the WHO/IARC among others as 'probably carcinogenic for humans'. The purposes of this study were firstly to analyse acrylamide contents of the most important foods contributing to such exposure, secondly, to estimate the acrylamide exposure in a representative sample of the Dutch population, and thirdly to estimate the public health risks of this consumption. We analysed the acrylamide content of foods with an LC-MS-MS method. The results were then used to estimate the acrylamide exposure of consumers who participated in the National Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) in 1998 (n=6250). The exposure was estimated using the probabilistic approach for the total Dutch population and several age groups. For 344 food products, acrylamide amounts ranged from <30 to 3100 microg/kg. Foods with the highest mean acrylamide amounts were potato crisps (1249 microg/kg), chips (deep-fried) (351 microg/kg), cocktail snacks (1060 microg/kg), and gingerbread (890 microg/kg). The mean acrylamide exposure of the NFCS participants was 0.48 microg/kg bw/day. Risk of neurotoxicity is negligible. From exposure estimations it appears that the additional cancer risk might not be negligible.

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Gas chromatographic investigation of acrylamide formation in browning model systems.

Acrylamide formed in browning model systems was analyzed using a gas chromatograph with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector. Asparagine alone produced acrylamide via thermal degradation at the level of 0.99 microgram/g of asparagine. When asparagine was heated with triolein-which produced acrolein at the level of 1.82 +/- 0.31 (n = 5) mg/L of headspace by heat treatment-acrylamide was formed at the level of 88.6 microgram/g of asparagine. When acrolein gas was sprayed onto asparagine heated at 180 degrees C, a significant amount of acrylamide was formed (114 microgram/g of asparagine). On the other hand, when acrolein gas was sprayed onto glutamine under the same conditions, only a trace amount of acrylamide was formed (0.18 microgram/g of glutamine). Relatively high levels of acrylamide (753 microgram/g of ammonia) were formed from ammonia and acrolein heated at 180 degrees C in the vapor phase. The reaction of acrylic acid, which is an oxidation product of acrolein and ammonia, produced a high level of acrylamide (190 000 microgram/g of ammonia), suggesting that ammonia and acrolein play an important role in acrylamide formation in lipid-rich foods. Acrylamide can be formed from asparagine alone via thermal degradation, but carbonyl compounds, such as acrolein, promote its formation via a browning reaction.

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Silylation of acrylamide for analysis by solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatography/ion-trap mass spectrometry.

A method for quantitative analysis of acrylamide has been developed for use with headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME). In the method, acrylamide undergoes silylation with N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) to form the volatile N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acrylamide (BTMSA). Once formed, BTMSA is readily extracted from the headspace over the silylation reaction using a 100 microm poly(dimethylsiloxane) SPME fiber. A series of experiments was undertaken to optimize the amount of BSTFA, the silylation reaction temperature, the silylation reaction duration, and SPME sampling duration to maximize the analytical sensitivity for BTMSA. Acrylamide levels were quantified relative to a [13C3]-acrylamide internal standard using gas chromatography/ion-trap mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in the single ion monitoring mode. An analytical working curve was constructed and found to be linear over the 4 to 6700 ppb acrylamide range investigated with a limit of detection of 0.9 ppb. The native acrylamide levels of three commercial cereals were measured using the optimized analytical method. Quantitative standard additions of acrylamide to the cereal matrixes demonstrated complete recovery of the spiked acrylamide.

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Selection criteria for potato tubers to minimize acrylamide formation during frying.

A number of parameters linked to the selection of potato tubers were evaluated with regard to their potential to influence acrylamide formation in French fries. The formation of acrylamide, which is a potential human carcinogen, can be minimized for a big extent by the selection of an appropriate tuber. This study focused on the following selection criteria: variety as influenced by storage time and soil type, underwater weight, and tuber size. A total of 16 varieties were compared, concerning their potential for acrylamide formation. From that survey, certain varieties, such as Tebina and Quincy, could be appointed as unsuitable for frying. The differences in the potential of acrylamide formation between the varieties could mainly be explained by the reducing sugar content of the potato (R2 = 0.82, n = 96). The investigated type of soil and storage time at 8 degrees C appeared to have a minor influence on the acrylamide formation during frying. On the other hand, the tuber size of the potato did contribute in a significant manner to the acrylamide formation. Smaller tubers were more susceptible to acrylamide formation and should be avoided in the frying process. The last selection parameter, the underwater weight, appeared to be of minor importance in the acrylamide formation. On the basis of these simple selection criteria, it is possible to make a first screening of potatoes to reduce the acrylamide formation during frying.

Acrylamides↗