SUPPRESSION OF PRENEOPLASTIC CHANGES IN THE INTESTINE OF RATS FED LOW-LEVELS OF POLYAMINES

Administration for 7 days of an enteral diet that is naturally deficie nt in polyamines strikingly reduces the preneoplastic changes observed in the intestines of adult Wistar rats previously treated with the ca rcinogen 1,2-dimethylhydrazine. On the contrary, supplementing the ent eral diet with spermidine favors preneoplastic development. The effect s of the lo,v-polyamine diet included a 40 % decline in the putrescine content of the intestinal mucosa, a significant decrease in the turno ver rate of the epithelial cells from the crypts to villus tip in the ileum, and a 2-fold reduction in the number of abnormal colonic crypts . The experimental data support the view that it might be of interest to control the dietary intake of polyamines in the clinical management of cancer patients.