EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF THE INHIBITORY EFFECTS OF GREEN TEA CATECHIN ON MICE LARGE INTESTINAL CANCERS INDUCED BY 1,2-DIMETHYLHYDRAZINE

Three hundred Kunming mice were randomly divided;into six groups (half males and half females in each group). Group 1 was the positive contr ol group, Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 were experimental groups and Group 6 wa s used as the solvent control group. Mice in Groups 1-4 were injected with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (1,2-DMH) (20 mg/kg body wt.) solution subc utaneously once a week from the 2nd week to the 20th week. From the 1s t week to the 23rd week, mice in Groups 2, 3 and 4 were given catechin (1 mg/mouse), catechin (2 mg/mouse) and EGCG (2 mg/mouse), respec tiv ely, five times a week. Mice in Group 5 received only catechin (3 mg/m ouse) five times a week from the 1st to the 23rd week. Mice in Group 6 were injected with an equal volume of 1 mmol EDTA solution subcutaneo usly once a week from the 2nd to the 20th week. At the end of the 27th week, all the mice were killed by cervical dislocation (Zhu, Q.H. and Zhu, Q.F. (1991) Laboratory Animal Science, 1st edition. The Junior E ducational publisher, Guangdong). Pathological examinations indicated that the incidence of large intestinal cancers occurring in Group 1 wa s 80%, significantly higher than that in Groups 2, 3 and 4 (P < 0.001) . No tumors were found in Groups 5 and 6. This might suggest that gree n tea has preventive effects on large intestinal cancer induction in s pite of the different doses of catechin. Immunohistochemistry studies showed that green tea catechins could enhance the activity of superoxi de dismutase (SOD) in tissues.