Use of an elemental diet in animals during treatment with 5-fluorouracil (NSC-19893)

Rats eating a diet containing casein hydrolysate (10% wt/wt)(diet 3) instead of whole casein (diet 1) exhibited increased tolerance to nine consecutive daily injections of 15 mg/kg of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The relative nutritional efficiency of diet 3 was significantly higher during 5-FU treatment. Serum albumin levels measured after 5-FU treatment dropped by only 2.7% in diet 3 groups and by 13.5% in diet 1 groups. Serum albumin values for rats on the control diet (Purina lab chow) were comparable to those on diet 1. No 5-FU-related mortality was observed in any of the groups. Intestinal brush border enzymes were determined in a group of rats on diet 1. At the end of 5-FU treatment statistically significant changes were observed: sucrase dropped to 30% of control and leucylnaphthylamide-hydrolyzing activity dropped to 19% of control. The activity of gamma-glutamyltransferase did not change significantly. It is postulated that under these circumstances a mixture with a prevalence of free amino acids (casein hydrolysate) could be more readily absorbed than a corresponding mixture containing a larger proportion of oligopeptides.