Colon cancer is still one of the leading causes of death in USA and is increasing at an alarming rate in Asia. It is one of the major causes of death in industrialized countries, and its etiology is known to be a combination of hereditary, environmental, dietary factors and lack of physical activity.
Chemoprevention plays a potential role in
colorectal cancer. The present study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of
hesperetin supplementation on colonic
aberrant crypt foci, lipid peroxidation and
antioxidant defense system in
1,2-dimethylhydrazine (
DMH) induced colon
carcinogenesis in male Wistar rats. The rats were segregated into six groups viz., group 1, control rats received modified pellet diet; group 2 rats received modified pellet diet along with
hesperetin (30 mg/kg
body weight/day); groups 3-6 administrated
DMH (20 mg/kg
body weight)
subcutaneous injection once a week for the first 4 weeks; in addition groups 4-6 received
hesperetin at three different doses of 10, 20 and 30 mg/kg
body weight/day for 16 weeks. All the rats were sacrificed at the end of the experimental period of 16 weeks. Increased
tumor incidence and increased number
aberrant crypt foci (ACF) accompanied by a decrease in the tissue lipid peroxidation,
glutathione S-transferase (GST),
glutathione peroxidase (GPx),
superoxide dismutase (SOD), and
catalase (CAT) activities were observed in
DMH-treated rats. Administration of
hesperetin to
DMH treated rats significantly decreased the
tumor incidence, the number of
aberrant crypt foci with simultaneous enhancement of tissue lipid peroxidation, GST, GPx, SOD, and CAT activities. The results of this study suggest that
hesperetin at a dose of 20 mg/kg
body weight showed a significant beneficial effect against chemically induced colonic
carcinogenesis in rats as compared to the other two doses.