Abstract
Abstract The present study compared the ability of seven different berry types [black and red raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, acai, noni, goji (wolfberry)] to inhibit N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA)-induced tumor development in the F344 rat esophagus. These seven berry types have been shown to differ in their relative content of known chemopreventive agents such as anthocyanins, ellagitannins and carotenoids. Each berry type was picked when ripe, freeze-dried under anoxic conditions to prevent decomposition of their chemical components, and ground into a powder. Beginning at 4 weeks of age, 120 F344 rats were injected with NMBA (0.3 mg/kg, 3x/wk for 5 weeks). Control rats (15) were injected with DMSO/water (80:20), the solvent for NMBA. Beginning one week after treatment with carcinogen, individual berry types were administered at 5% of the diet to groups of 15 NMBA-treated rats until the end of the bioassay (35 weeks). At necropsy, the number of esophageal papillomas was enumerated in all groups of rats. No papillomas were seen in control rats treated with DMSO/water. All berry types caused a significant reduction in the number of NMBA-induced papillomas when compared to rats treated with NMBA only. There was no significant difference in the relative ability of the different berry types to reduce tumor incidence, multiplicity or size. Histopathological studies showed that each berry type was about equally effective in preventing the conversion of preneoplastic lesions (dysplasias) to papillomas. These results suggest that the chemopreventive potential of berries for the rat esophagus is not restricted to black raspberries and strawberries as shown previously in our laboratory. They also suggest that berries that vary markedly in their content of anthocyanins, ellagitannins and carotenoids all exhibit chemopreventive potential in the rat esophagus. Supported by NCI grant CA103180 and USDA grant 38903-03560. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):A51.
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