The protective effects of nutritional antioxidant therapy on Ehrlich solid tumor-bearing mice depend on the type of antioxidant therapy chosen: histology, genotoxicity and hematology evaluations.

Strong evidence indicates that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in the initiation as well as the promotion phase of carcinogenesis. Studies support the role of ROS in cancer, in part, by showing that dietary antioxidants act as cancer-preventive agents. Although results are promising, the research on this topic is still controversial. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whether vitamins C, E and pequi oil can, individually, provide prevention and/or be used afterward as an adjuvant in cancer therapy. Ehrlich solid tumor-bearing mice received antioxidant as follows: before tumor inoculation, before and after tumor inoculation (continuous administration), and after tumor inoculation; morphometric analyses of tumor, genotoxicity and hematology were then carried out. Antioxidant administrations before tumor inoculation effectively inhibited its growth in the three experimental protocols, but administrations after the tumor's appearance accelerated tumor growth and favored metastases. Continuous administration of pequi oil inhibited the tumor's growth, while the same protocol with vitamins E and C accelerated it, favoring metastasis and increasing oxidative stress on erythrocytes. Except for continuous administration with vitamin E, the development of ascites tumor metastases was linked with increased inflammation. Results suggest that the efficiency and applicability of antioxidants in the medical clinic can depend not only on the nature of the antioxidant, the type and stage of cancer being treated and the prevailing oxygen partial pressure in the tissues, but also on the type of antioxidant therapy chosen.

Specificity of relapses and metastases of experimental transplanted Ehrlich carcinoma and B16 melanoma.

Experiments on female (CBAxC57Bl/6)F1 mice with simultaneously transplanted Ehrlich carcinoma and B16 melanoma showed that removal of one of the primary nodes led to metastasizing of the removed tumor alone. It seems that this specificity of the inhibitory effect of the primary tumor can be explained by peculiarities of glycosylation and subsequent complex formation of serum proteins with the tumor.

[The enhancement of the efficacy of adriamycin by using hepatoprotectors of plant origin in metastases of Ehrlich's adenocarcinoma to the liver in mice]. / Povshenie éffektivnosti adriamitsina s pomoshch'iu gepatoprotektorov rastitel'nogo proiskhozhdeniia pri metastazakh adenokartsinomy Erlikha v pechen' u myshei.

It was shown that the use of an anthracycline antibiotic--adriamycin in mice with metastatic involvement resulted in pronounced liver dysfunction, as suggested by a sharp increase in blood transaminase levels. In the same model, a hepatoprotector of plant origin--Rhodiola rosea extract--was shown to inhibit tumor dissemination. Combined application of adriamycin and the extract proved no inferior in terms of antimetastatic efficacy and nearly free from toxicity.

[Cytochemical study of cells of primary and disseminated ascite Yoshida tumor cells]. / Studio citochimico di cellule di tumore ascite di Yoshida primitive e disseminate.

The different distribution of cytochemically demonstrable enzymes: lactate dehydrogenase (LDH, 1.1.1.27), succinate dehydrogenase (SDH, 1.3.99.1), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR, 1.5.1.3), acid phosphatase (AcP, 3.1.3.2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP, 3.1.3.1), has been documented in Yoshida ascites hepatoma cells in vivo or stored at 80 degrees C. The dehydrogenase activities (LDH, SDH, DHFR) show a strong reaction in all samples. An increased level of these enzyme activities has been observed in the malignant cells spreading through the organs of tumor bearing rats. On the contrary, in the same samples, acid and alkaline phosphatase activities are very low. The strong dehydrogenase activities observed in Yoshida ascite cells stress the rapid turnover of tumor cells. Our results indicate that the histochemical method may be a useful tool to detect the scattered tumor cells. Furthermore, the cytochemical methods allow the characterization of the metabolic pathways employed by the primary and disseminated tumor cells.