Metabolic Activation of 2-Methylfuran to Acetylacrolein and Its Reactivity toward Cellular Proteins

2-Methylfuran (2-MF) is a process-related contaminant found primarily in heat-treated foods, such as coffee or canned food. The oxidative metabolic activation of 2-MF is supposed to follow the pathway established for furan, which is known to generate the highly reactive metabolite butenedial (BDA). In the case of 2-MF, generation of the BDA homologue 3-acetylacrolein (AcA) is to be expected. 2-MF metabolism to AcA was investigated in two model systems: commercial microsomal preparations and primary rat hepatocytes (pRH). To scavenge the generated 2-MF, two model nucleophils,