PROTECTIVE CAPABILITY OF DIETARY ZIZYPHUS-MISTOL SEED OIL, RICH IN 183 N-3, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF 2 MURINE MAMMARY-GLAND ADENOCARCINOMAS WITH HIGH OR LOW METASTATIC POTENTIAL/

The modulating effect of dietary Zizyphus mistol seed oil, rich in the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, on two murine ma mmary gland adenocarcinomas having low (M2) and high (MM3) metastatic abilities was investigated, Following tumor subcutaneous inoculation, 165 BALB/c mice were fed on a semisynthetic diet containing 5% of mist ol oil which has 25% of 18:3, n-3 (mistol group), The other group rece ived a stock diet (C group), Tumor growth parameters such as success o f tumor implants (ST), latency time (LT), tumor growth (TG), tumor vol ume (TV), survival, and number and sites of metastases were recorded, Fatty acid profiles of liver lipids correlated well with dietary fatty acids, with a n-3/n-6 ratio of 0.90:1 in the mistol group against 0.2 4:1 in the C group, None of the tumor growth parameters were worse in the mistol group with respect to the controls, On the contrary, surviv al in M2 hosts and tumor weight in MM3-bearing mice were significantly ameliorated, A tendency towards a diminution of total number of metas tases in both types of tumor was observed in the mistol group, From th ese results, it is suggested that Z, mistol seed oil may be of potenti al value in nutritional oncology.