Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae devoid of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase as a cellular model to study acrylamide toxicity.

Acrylamide is known as a cytotoxic and genotoxic component of starch-containing heat-processed food. We demonstrate that yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae may be used as a cellular model to examine the biochemical mechanisms of acrylamide toxicity. We found that acrylamide causes impairment of growth of the yeast deficient in Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (Δsod1) in a concentration-dependent manner. This growth inhibitory effect is not due to cell death but to decreased cell vitality and proliferative capacity. Treatment of the Δsod1 yeast with acrylamide induced generation of increased reactive oxygen species and depletion of glutathione. The toxicity of acrylamide for yeast cells may be abolished by antioxidants (ascorbate, cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, glutathione and dithiothreitol) or lowering oxygen content in the atmosphere.