Acrylamide induces early morphologic reorganization of the neuronal cell body.

Rats were intoxicated with acrylamide monomer at 50 mg per kilogram per day; lumbar dorsal root ganglia and distal sural and tibial nerves were studied morphologically. At the sixth day of intoxication, large and small neuronal cell bodies showed a spectrum of remodeling changes that included nuclear eccentricity, cytoplasmic reorganization with an outer mantle of Nissl and an inner perinuclear zone of pigmented bodies, and increased perineuronal cells. Distal axons showed little degeneration at this time. These findings suggest that the cell body plays an important role in the pathogenesis of dying-back neurotoxic disease, and that there may be direct toxic affect on the perikaryon itself.