The effect of probiotic microorganisms and bioactive compounds on chemically induced carcinogenesis in rats

Diet interventions and natural bioactive supplements have now been extensively studied to reduce risks of colon cancer, which is one of the major public health problem throughout the world. The objective of our investigation was to study the effects of probiotic, prebiotic, nutritional plant extract, and plant oil on selected biochemical and immunological parameters in rats with colon cancer induced by N,N dimethylhydrazine (DMH). Male and female Wistar albino rats were were fed by a high-fat (HF) diet (10% fat in the diet) and were divided into 9 groups: Control group; PRO group - HF diet supplemented with probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum to provide 3 x 109 c.f.u. of strain/1 ml of medium; PRE group - HF diet supplemented with inulin enriched with oligofructose (2% of HF diet); HES group - HF diet supplemented with plant extract of Aesculus hippocastanum L. (1% of HF diet); OIL group - HF diet comprised Linioleum virginale (2% of HF diet); and combination of probiotic microorganisms and bioactive compounds in the groups - PRO-PRE, PRO-HES, PRO-OIL, PRE-OIL. Carcinogenesis was initiated with subcutaneous injection of DMH (20 mg/kg) two times at week interval and dietary treatments were continued for the six weeks. Application of probiotic microorganisms and bioactive compounds in all treated groups significantly decreased the activities of bacterial enzymes (p<0.001), the fecal bile acids concentration (p<0.01; p<0.001) and significantly increased serum TNFalpha level (p<0.001) in comparison to the control rats. The number of coliforms was reduced in PRO, PRO-PRE, PRO-OIL and PRE-OIL groups and significantly higher count of lactobacilli (p<0.05) was observed in PRO-PRE, PRO-OIL and PRE-OIL groups in compare with the controls. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that probiotic microorganisms and bioactive compounds could exert a preventive effect on colon carcinogenesis induced by DMH.