Inhibitory Effects of Chlorogenic Acid on Azoxymethane-induced Colon Carcinogenesis in Male F344 Rats

Modifying effects of chlorogenic acid (CA) on carcinogen-induced large bowel carcinogenesis was examined inrats. A total of 150 male F344 rats, 4 weeks old, were divided into 5 groups. At 6 weeks of age, groups 1-3 were givensubcutaneous injections of AOM (15 mg/kg body weight) once a week for three weeks. Group 2 was given the dietmixed with CA at the dose of 250 ppm during the initiation phase (5 weeks), and group 3 was exposed to the samediet during the post-initiation phase (32 weeks). Group 4 received the diet with CA throughout the experiment.Group 5 was maintained on the basal diet alone and served as a control. At the termination of the experiment (36weeks after the start), the incidence of colon tumors in group 2 and 3 demonstrated a tendency for decrease ascompared with group 1 although this did not attain significance At this time, the multiplicity of colon tumors ofgroup 2 was significantly smaller than in group 1. In this study, the anti-proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)indices for non-neoplastic cells of the colon mucosae in groups 2 and 3 were also smaller than in group 1. The datasuggest that CA has chemopreventive potential against colon carcinogenesis in rats like that showen in a hamstermodel with use of methylazoxymethanol acetate.