Acrylonitrile Metabolism in the Rat

Abstract
Acrylonitrile (AN) is metabolized by an oxidative pathway via glycidonitrile and glycolaldehyde cyanohydrin to cyanide (CN), which is transformed to thiocyanate. The major route of AN metabolism (more than 2/3), however, proceeds via cyanoethylation of glutathione, to N-ace-tyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)cysteine (AN-mercapturic acid) as a final product.