Objective: 

The main of this study was to analyze the changes in the large intestine of rats, which have been given acrylamide for 3 months, and the possible protective effect of dried organic apricot.

Methods: 

Forty female rats were divided into four groups: control group was fed with standard chow, apricot group was fed with standard chow plus 5% apricot, acrylamide group was fed with standard chow and daily acrylamide 500 mg/kg via drinking water, acrylamide+apricot group was fed with standard chow plus 5% apricot and daily acrylamide 500 mg/kg via drinking water for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks all the rats were decapitated and their large intestine samples were used to measure "Glutathione S-Transferase Pi (GST-Pi) gene expression and antioxidant parameters.

Results: 

GST-Pi gene expression and MDA levels of large intestine in acrylamide group were significantly (p<0.05) increased compared to the control group's levels. On the other hand, those levels were found to be significantly decreased (p<0.05) when dried apricot was added to the diet of the rats taking acrylamide.

Conclusions: 

The studies on humans and animals show that increase of GST-Pi gene expression in the tissues is related to the pre-carcinogenic changes. In this study, GST-Pi gene expression and MDA levels in acrylamide group large intestine tissues significantly increased. When the organic dried apricot was given at the same time, these levels were decreased to the control group levels. These results show that the acrylamide caused the pre-carcinogenic and toxic changes on large intestine tissues and the organic dried apricot prevented these effects.