Administration of prebiotic inulin suppresses 1,2 dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride induced procarcinogenic biomarkers fecal enzymes and preneoplastic lesions in early colon carcinogenesis in Sprague Dawley rats

Prebiotics are substances that promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms thus, having health benefits as functional food. In the present study, comparative effect of prebiotics inulin and lactulose on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride (DMH) induced procarcinogenic biomarkers in early colon carcinogenesis is described. It was found that aberrant crypt foci counts were significantly (p <0.05) less in both prebiotics + DMH treated group compared with DMH treated group, but percent reduction was maximum (p <0.05) in inulin + DMH treated group. The activity of (beta-glucuronidase and beta-glucosidase decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in animals belonging to inulin + DMH group compared with lactulose + DMH treated. The study suggests that prebiotic inulin may possess better prophylactic potential than lactulose due to reduced biomarkers of colon carcinogenesis in the initiation phase. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.