PROMOTIVE EFFECT OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY BILE-ACIDS ON THE INDUCTION OF GAMMA-GLUTAMYL-TRANSFERASE TRANSPEPTIDASE-POSITIVE LIVER-CELL FOCI AS A POSSIBLE ENDOGENOUS FACTOR FOR HEPATOCARCINOGENESIS IN RATS

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 75  (10) , 871-875
Abstract
The promoting effects of 5 bile acids on liver carcinogenesis were investigated in male Fischer rats initially treated with diethylnitrosamine (DEN). At 2 wk after a single dose of DEN (200 mg/kg, i.p.), rats were given bile acids for 8 wk. At 3 wk following DEN administration, all rats were subjected to partial hepatectomy. Among the bile acids tested, cholic acid (CA) and deoxycholic acid (DCA) exerted promoting activity as evidenced by significantly increased values of .gamma.-glutamyl transpeptidase-positive (.gamma.-GT+) foci as compared with the corresponding controls given DEN alone. The other 3 bile acids tested, chenodeoxy-cholic acid (CDCA), lithocholic acid (LCA) and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), did not significantly increase the level of .gamma.-GT+ foci over that induced by DEN alone. Bile acids of the same metabolic pathway, CA as a primary bile acid and DCA as a secondary bile acid, showed promoting effects whereas CDCA and its metabolic derivatives, LCA and UDCA, were inactive. Apparently, CA and DCA might act as endogenous promoters of hepatocarcinogenesis in pathological conditions with increased levels of serum bile acids.