Mercapturic acids of acrylamide and glycidamide as biomarkers of the internal exposure to acrylamide in the general population

• Published in: Mutation research. Genetic toxicology and environmental mutagenesis 2005-02, Vol.580 (1), p.167-176
• Main Authors: Boettcher, Melanie Isabell, Schettgen, Thomas, Kütting, Birgitta, Pischetsrieder, Monika, Angerer, Jürgen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylamide; Biological monitoring; General population; Mercapturic acids; Metabolism; Risk estimation
• ISSN: 1383-5718; 1879-3592
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2004.11.010

Acrylamide (AA), a widely used industrial monomer which is categorised to be carcinogenic, was found to be generated in starch-containing foods during the heating process. This discovery has caused reasonable concern about possible health risks to humans due to dietary acrylamide uptake. In order to gain more information on human metabolism of acrylamide and to contribute to the assessment of the human carcinogenic risk due to AA uptake we measured the mercapturic acid of AA and its epoxide glycidamide (GA) i.e. N-acetyl- S-(2-carbamoylethyl)- l-cysteine (AAMA) and N-( R,S)-acetyl- S-(2-carbamoyl-2-hydroxyethyl)- l-cysteine (GAMA) in human urine. The relation between AAMA and GAMA is important in this context because GA is thought to be the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite of AA. The median levels in smokers ( n = 13) were found to be about four times higher than in non-smokers ( n = 16) with median levels of 127 μg/l versus 29 μg/l for AAMA and 19 μg/l versus 5 μg/l for GAMA. Therefore cigarette smoke proved to be an important source of acrylamide exposure. The level of AAMA in the occupationally non-exposed collective ( n = 29) ranged from 3 to 338 μg/l, the level of GAMA from