Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate possible damages to kidney tissues of pregnant rats and their fetuses exposed to acrylamide during pregnancy and possible protective effects of vitamin E against these damages. Material and methods: Rats were randomly assigned to five groups of control, corn oil, vitamin E, acrylamide, vitamin E + acrylamide, six pregnant rats in each. Mother and fetal kidney tissues were examined for malondialdehyde (MDA), reductase glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), urea, creatine, trace elements such as Zn and Cu in the serum and histopathological analyses were conducted. Results: It was determined that acrylamide, administered during pregnancy, statistically significantly increased MDA and TOS levels, maternal serum urea, creatinine, and Zn levels, while it decreased GSH, TAS, SOD, and CAT levels (p ≤ .05) when compared with all other groups in the kidney tissues of pregnant rats and their fetuses and caused tubular degeneration, hemorrhage, narrowing, and closure in Bowman's space, and, in the E vitamin group, it statistically significantly increased GSH, TAS, SOD, CAT, urea, creatinine, and Zn levels when compared with other groups and lowered TOS and MDA levels to those of the control group (p < .05) and there were no differences between the groups histologically. Conclusion: It was observed that acrylamide administered during pregnancy caused oxidative stress in kidney tissues of mother rats and their fetuses, resulting in tissue damage, and vitamin E application, which is considered to be a powerful antioxidant, inhibited oxidative stress.
Keywords: Acrylamide; fetus; kidneys; mother; oxidative stress; pregnancy; vitamin E.