Intake of acrylamide at the dietary relevant concentration causes splenic toxicity in adult zebrafish

Acrylamide (AA) has recently been recognized as an immediate hazardous chemical compound owing to its various toxicities and unavoidable contamination of certain daily foods prepared at a high temperature. AA in foods is thus a worldwide concern; however, its toxicity at the dietary relevant concentration has yet to be experimentally elucidated. To determine whether dietary AA intake causes adverse health effects, adult zebrafish were fed a diet containing AA at a relevant dose for one month. Although AA-fed zebrafish showed no superficial abnormalities, their spleen was severely swollen. Therefore, their spleen was analyzed histologically and pathologically and the changes in cytokine expression in their spleen were also examined. Based on our findings, the intake of AA-containing food caused splenic damages, including cyst formation, hemorrhage, and inflammation, which were accompanied by immune responses as indicated by the appearance of a melanomacrophage center, activation of macrophages, and upregulation of major inflammatory cytokines in the spleen. Collectively, for the first time, we provided experimental evidence of the splenic toxicity caused by dietary AA intake.