Dose-Dependent and Route-Modulated Gastric Mucosal Injury Induced by Acrylamide: Histological, Ultrastructural, and Morphometric Evidence

Abstract Objective: Acrylamide is a heat-generated food contaminant, but its effects on distinct gastric epithelial cell populations remain incompletely characterized. The aim of this study was to determine whether acrylamide administered for 10 consecutive days at 25 or 50 mg/kg daily produces dose-dependent structural injury in the gastric corpus mucosa of adult male rats, to identify which epithelial cell populations are affected, and to establish whether the pattern of injury differs between intraperitoneal and oral administration. Materials and methods: Fifty rats were assigned to vehicle controls or to acrylamide at 25 or 50 mg/kg daily, administered intraperitoneally or by oral gavage for 10 days. Gastric corpus specimens were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy, and six morphometric outcomes were analyzed per animal (n = 6 animals per analytical group) by one-way and two-way analysis of variance. Results: At 25 mg/kg daily, mucosal architecture and morphometric measures were comparable to control values; at 50 mg/kg, gastric pits were wider and deeper, foveolar mucous-cell counts increased, and parietal and chief-cell counts decreased. Dose affected all outcomes (all p < 0.001). Route main effects were limited to pit depth, foveolar mucous-cell counts, and parietal-cell counts; a dose-by-route interaction occurred only for parietal cells. Ultrastructurally, mucous cells accumulated secretory granules, parietal cells showed cytoplasmic rarefaction and mitochondrial degeneration, and chief cells showed nuclear chromatin condensation and margination with irregularity of the nuclear envelope, rough-endoplasmic-reticulum disorganization, and zymogen-granule depletion. Conclusions: Marked cell-type-specific structural injury was evident at 50 mg/kg daily. Because these doses greatly exceed dietary exposure, the findings inform hazard characterization rather than everyday dietary risk.