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A New Medium-term Rat Colorectal Bioassay Applying Neoplastic Lesions as End Points for Detection of Carcinogenesis Modifiers Effects with Weak or Controversial Modifiers
1 Division of Pathology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Tokyo 158-8501, Japan Correspondence: Address correspondence to: Young-Man Cho, Division of Pathology, National Institute of Health Sciences, 1-18-1 Kamiyoga, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo 158-8501, Japan; e-mail:ymcho{at}nihs.go.jp.
We have established a two-stage, medium-term rat colorectal carcinogenesis model featuring induction of neoplastic lesions within ten weeks. In the present study, we examined the ability of this model to detect weak modifiers. F344 male rats were given three subcutaneous (sc) injections of 1,2-dimethyl-hydrazine (DMH, 40 mg/kg b.w.) in one week followed by drinking water containing 1% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) for a second week. One week after this regimen, basal diet alone, or diets containing 10% perilla oil, 10% corn oil, 10% dextrin, or 0.1% indole-3-carbinol (I3C) were supplied. The perilla oil and corn oil groups did not show significant differences in the numbers of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and incidences or multiplicity of proliferative lesions as compared to the controls at either time point. In the dextrin group, the total number of ACF at week ten was significantly increased. With I3C, the total number of ACF and incidence and multiplicities of adenocarcinomas at week ten and the incidence of invasive tumors at week twenty were significantly increased. These data essentially correspond with earlier reported results, except in the vegetable oil cases. Thus, the system is suitable for detection of colorectal carcinogenesis modifiers with advantages over previous models using ACF alone as end points.
Key Words: colon rat bioassay 1,2-dimethylhydrazine dextran sodium sulfate aberrant crypt foci Abbreviations: DMH, 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine DSS, dextran sodium sulfate ACF, aberrant crypt foci I3C, indole-3-carbinol AOM, azoxymethane MNU, N-methyl-N-nitrosourea
Colorectal cancer is the fourth and third most common malignant neoplasm in men and women, respectively, in the world, with the highest incidence rates in North America, Australia/New Zealand, Western Europe, and, for men especially, Japan (Parkin et al. 2005). Epidemiological studies suggest a strong correlation with dietary factors, such as heterocyclic amines (Sinha and Rothman 1999) and a high-fat diet (Ahmed 2004). In Japan the incidence has increased with the shift to westernized dietary habits (Kono 2004). However, it remains unclear which components of the diet are of most importance in this regard, and it is also necessary to determine protective factors. For this purpose, animal models are needed. Several two-stage colorectal carcinogenesis models have been developed using 1,2-dimethyl-hydrazine (DMH) or its metabolite, azoxymethane (AOM), as initiators (Nigro 1985), but these models require long experimental periods. For short-term screening, aberrant crypt foci (ACF) of the colon have been used. Stained with methylene blue in animals treated with colon-specific carcinogens, first described by Bird (1987), they have long been presumed to be preneoplastic lesions (Bird 1995), and ACF assays have been widely used in rats for detection of colorectal carcinogenesis modifiers within short periods initiated with the colon carcinogen DMH (Maziere et al. 1998) or AOM (Onogi et al. 1996). However, evidence has documented a lack of any direct correlation with tumor development. A number of compounds with the ability to reduce the occurrence of ACF, for example, 2-(carboxyphenyl)retinamide (Zheng et al. 1999) and genistein (Rao et al. 1997), actually enhanced the development of colorectal cancers after initiation with AOM, whereas some tumor promoters like cholic acid decreased numbers of ACF in rats treated with AOM (Magnuson and Bird 1993). Recently, other types of histological alteration, termed β-catenin-accumulated crypts (BCAC) and dysplastic ACF, which feature nuclear accumulation of β-catenin protein and frequently demonstrate gene mutations, have been identified on histological evaluation of rat colon mucosa treated with AOM (Yamada et al. 2000) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) (Ochiai et al. 2003), respectively. It has been argued that BCAC, rather than ACF, should be applied as biomarkers for identifying modulators of colorectal carcinogenesis within a short period (Hirose et al. 2003). However, the necessity for a technique requiring a high level of skill in making cross-sections of colorectum for detection of BCAC argues against use for routine screening. We have recently established a medium-term colorectal carcinogenesis model in rats initiated with DMH followed by one week of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) treatment, in which neoplastic lesions including adenocarcinomas can be induced within ten weeks (Onose et al. 2003). A previous study showed that this system offers a useful tool for detection of potent colorectal carcinogenesis modifiers within ten to twenty weeks (Onose et al. 2006).
Numerous substances have already been shown to inhibit or enhance development of colon ACF and/or tumors in short- and long-term bioassay systems. For example, in rats, perilla oil, high in the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) In the present study, we used these agents as typical weak or controversial modifiers to test the validity of our recently established DMH-DSS rat model to detect influence on colorectal carcinogenesis modification within a ten- or twenty-week experimental period.
Chemicals and Animals DMH was purchased from Tokyo Kasei Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan); DSS (MW 36,000–50,000) from ICN Biomedicals, Inc. (Aurora, OH, USA); perilla oil from Ohta Oil Mill Co., Ltd. (Aichi, Japan); corn oil from Nihon Shokuhin Kako Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan); dextrin (dietary fiber 89%, sugar 7.5%, moisture 3.5%) from Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Hyogo, Japan); and 13C from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). A total of 150 male F344 rats, five weeks of age, were purchased from Charles River Japan Inc. (Kanagawa, Japan) and housed in polycarbonate cages with white wood chips for bedding under standard conditions (room temperature: 24 ± 1°C; relative humidity: 55 ± 5%; twelve-hour light and dark cycle), with free access to basal diet (CRF-1; Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) and drinking water. They were used in the experiment after one week of acclimatization.
Experimental Protocol
Statistical Analysis All quantitative data are presented as mean ± SD values. Numbers of ACF were analyzed by Student t test following the F test for homogeneity of variance in comparison with the DMH + DSS-alone control group. Incidences and multiplicity of histopathological findings were analyzed by Fishers exact probability test and the Mann-Whitney U test, respectively.
One rat in the perilla oil group at two weeks died, probably as a result of colorectal hemorrhage before test chemical treatment, and its data were excluded from the present study. The final body weights of rats in the corn oil group at week ten were significantly (p < .05) higher than in the control group. Data for ACF and proliferative lesions in each group at week ten are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. In the DMH + DSS-alone control group, most ACF were small, consisting of no more than four crypts. ACF and colorectal dysplastic foci, adenomas, and adenocarcinomas were observed in all groups (Figure 2), limited to the distal colon as described previously (Onose et al. 2003). In the perilla oil and corn oil groups, there were no significant differences in the numbers of ACF and incidence and multiplicity of proliferative lesions as compared to the controls. In the dextrin group, the total number of ACF was significantly (p < .001) increased, whereas the incidence and multiplicity of adenomas tended to decrease, and those for adenocarcinomas did not differ from the control values. In the I3C group, the total number of ACF was significantly (p < .05) increased, particularly because of large lesions consisting of four crypts or more (p < .01). The incidence and the multiplicity of adenocarcinomas were also significantly (p < .01 and .05, respectively) increased, whereas adenomas showed a tendency to decrease.
At week twenty, the final body weights of rats in the perilla oil and the corn oil group were significantly (p < .01) higher than in the control group (Table 3). Data for ACF and incidences and multiplicities of adenomas and adenocarcinomas at week twenty did not differ from the control values with any of the treatments (Tables 3 and 4, respectively). However, in the corn oil and I3C groups, invasion of adenocarcinomas beyond the lamina muscularis mucosae was observed for one tumor in one rat and eleven tumors in five rats, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (p < .05) for the I3C group. Tumor volume in the I3C group was apparently elevated, but this elevation was not statistically significant.
DSS, a synthetic sulfated polysaccharide composed of dextran with sulfate glucose, is known to induce colitis in rodents (Okayasu et al. 1990). Although DSS is a nongenotoxic compound, its long-term treatment has been reported to result in colon cancer development in rats (Hirono et al. 1981). We have recently succeeded in inducing a high incidence of colorectal adenocarcinomas in rats initiated with DMH followed by DSS treatment within ten weeks (Onose et al. 2003), and we demonstrated that the effects of typical known colon carcinogenesis modifiers, nimesulide and lactoferrin as inhibitors, deoxycholic acid as a promoter, and 1-hydroxyanthraquinone as a carcinogen, could be detected within ten or twenty weeks with this animal model (Onose et al. 2006). In the present study, known colorectal carcinogenesis modifiers—perilla oil, corn oil, dextrin, and I3C—with subtle effects were examined to see whether this system could achieve sensitivity expected for detection of colorectal carcinogenesis modifiers.
In the control group, colorectal tumors, including adenomas and adenocarcinomas, were observed in eight of fifteen and thirteen of fifteen animals at weeks ten and twenty, respectively, consistent with our previous experiments (Onose et al. 2003; Onose et al. 2006). Studies in animal models have shown that in rats, 10% or 12% perilla-oil–rich diets suppress ACF and/or colorectal cancer development induced with different carcinogens—AOM (before, during, and after initiation) (Komaki et al. 1996; Onogi et al. 1996), MNU (during and after initiation) (Narisawa et al. 1991), and DMH (after initiation) (Hirose et al. 1990)—but no such influence was evident in the present study. Treatment with perilla oil during the initiation period with AOM or MNU (Komaki et al. 1996; Narisawa et al. 1991; Onogi et al. 1996) might be partially responsible for the preventive effects on colorectal carcinogenesis. With the inhibition after DMH initiation (Hirose et al. 1990), defatting of basal diet CRF-1 was performed before use, and it is noteworthy that the 5.7% crude fat in basal diet CRF-1 contains 47.8% The observed modulation by dextrin of the development of ACF and tumor occurrence in the present experiment is generally in accordance with results for diets high in sucrose and dextrin (Kristiansen et al. 1995; Molck et al. 2001; Poulsen et al. 2001), although the timing and the duration, as well as the doses, did not completely coincide. Similarly, our finding of the effects of I3C on the progression stage add to the earlier evidence of promotion (Pence et al. 1986). The report that I3C treatment for forty-five weeks after initiation by DMH had no effect on the colorectal tumors does not necessarily coincide with the present study; however, the data did not describe tumor volume and invasion. In other experiments, colorectal carcino-genesis was enhanced when I3C was given three weeks before, sixteen weeks during, and twelve weeks after DMH initiation (Pence et al. 1986). Taken together, it can be interpreted that I3C enhances DMH-initiated colorectal carcinogenesis. ACF have been widely used as biomarkers for colorectal carcinogenesis (Maziere et al. 1998; Onogi et al. 1996), despite the doubts as to their relevance to the occurrence of cancers (Magnuson and Bird 1993; Rao et al. 1997; Zheng et al. 1999). Usual two-stage rat colorectal carcinogenesis models require approximately thirty weeks to detect modifiers with neoplasms as the end points (Hirose et al. 1990; Reddy et al. 1985). Therefore, our model has distinct advantages, and the present results for weak or controversial modifiers point to its application as a useful tool for the detection of agents that impact colorectal carcinogenesis. Further studies for verification employing other model chemicals are now necessary.
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research (14-5-nomination) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan.
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This version was published on April
1, 2008 Toxicologic Pathology, Vol. 36, No. 3,
459-464 (2008)
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-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3), weakly inhibited ACF and/or colorectal cancer development induced with different carcinogens, AOM (when given in a 10–12% medium-fat diet supplement before, during, and after initiation) (
