Cytotoxicity of acrylamide and related compounds to mouse neuroblastoma and rat schwannoma cells.

Cytotoxicity of acrylamide and related compounds to mouse neuroblastoma N18TG-2 and rat Schwannoma RT4 cells was studied. Of nine test chemicals, acrylamide and N-hydroxymethylacrylamide were most toxic compared with others on the basis of ED50 value. Observation under phase-contrast microscopy revealed that in N18TG-2 acrylamide produced both degeneration of the cells and inhibition of cell growth, and that in RT4 it produced only inhibition of cell growth without causing any marked morphological changes. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dBcAMP) reduced the cytotoxicity of acrylamide to both types of cells on the basis of the dose-effect curve. Studies on the subcellular distribution of 14C-acrylamide incorporated showed that more than 90% of the total radioactivity was incorporated in the 15,000 g supernant fraction. Kinetics of acrylamide uptake by N18TG-2 cells showed that in the cells untreated with dBcAMP there were two binding sites with high and low affinity, and that after treatment with dBcAMP the site of high affinity disappeared. The situation was true for RT4 cells, the results indicating that the immature cells are more vulnerable to acrylamide than the mature cells.