Protection offered by Resveratrol against Acrylamide induced Genotoxicity in C. elegans

Acrylamide has been shown to be neurotoxic, genotoxic and a carcinogenic compound formed during the frying or baking of foods by means of the Maillard reaction. To evaluate the biological consequences of continuous exposure to acrylamide at levels found in common foodstuffs and its protection by resveratrol, we studied the effects of acrylamide using an in vivo model, nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. As for growth and fecundity nematodes showed retarded growth with reduced body and brood sizes, at 500 mg/L of acrylamide. Lifespan decreased significantly even in 500mg/L of acrylamide. The genotoxic effect was observed to be heritable being carried to further generations. Acrylamide formed DNA adducts bringing about the genotoxic effect. Of the xenobiotic metabolic genes studied, cyp-35A2, ugt-44 were upregulated in acrylamide-exposed worms. Among DNA repair genes studied xpa-1, apn-1, rpa-1, msh-2, ddb-1 and exo-3 were downregulated. Resveratrol which is a naturally occurring polyphenol exhibited protection against AA toxicity on growth, fecundity, and lifespan. The genotoxic effect of acrylamide was protected by resveratrol. The resveratrol preexposed worms showed upregulation of metabolic genes gst-4, ugt-44, a life span longevity genes daf-2 and DNA repair genes xpa-1, apn-1, rpa-1, msh-2, ddb-1.