ACRYLAMIDE-INDUCED PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY IN NORMAL AND NEUROFILAMENT-DEFICIENT JAPANESE-QUAILS

Morphological effects of acrylamide (AC) on the peripheral nerves in n ormal and neurofilament (NF)deficient (Quv) Japanese quails were inves tigated. AC (100 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally every other day . After the birds manifested neurological signs, they were necropsied (after 10 similar to 21 AC injections) and the sciatic and tibial nerv es were examined. In both normal and Quv qualis, AC produced axonopath y with a distal-proximal progression. In AC-intoxicated normal quails, the nerve fiber pathology was characterized by typical Wallerian-like degeneration, consisting of axonal degeneration, myelin breakdown, ma crophage migration, Schwann cell proliferation and regeneration of ner ve fibers. Ultrastructurally, AC-induced NF accumulation was detected in the axon of myelinated nerve fibers. In AC-intoxicated Quv qualis, axonal degeneration with accumulation of membranous organelles occurre d; however, sequential events of Wallerian-like degeneration were not as prominent as in AC-intoxicated normal qualis. These results demonst rated that NF-deficient Quv quails are sensitive to neurotoxic effects of AC. On the other hand, the different pathology of AC-intoxicated n ormal and Quv qualis indicates the presence or absence of NFs influenc es the appearance and extent of AC axonopathy.