Acrylamide: Dermal Exposure Produces Genetic Damage in Male Mouse Germ Cells

Acrylamide is used extensively in sewage and wastewater treatment plants, in the paper and pulp industry, in treatment of potable water, and in research laboratories for chromatography, electrophoresis, and electron microscopy. Dermal contact is a major route of human exposure. It has been shown that acrylamide is highly effective in breaking chromosomes of germ cells of male mice and rats when administered intraperitoneally or orally, resulting both in the early death of conceptuses and in the transmission of reciprocal translocations to live-born progeny. It is now reported that acrylamide is absorbed through the skin of male mice, reaches the germ cells, and induces chromosomal damage. The magnitude of genetic damage appears to be proportional to the dose administered topically.