Experimental Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Resveratrol as an Antioxidant in Colon Cancer Prevention

Abstract

According to the WHO, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and the third most common cancer is colorectal. A significant etiological factor for carcinogenesis might be oxidative stress. Chemoprevention by consuming natural antioxidants has great perspectives in the struggle to control cancer because it is available and affordable for the wide population. Studies by diverse research groups discovered that grapes, as well as grape-based products, are exceptional sources of the polyphenolic compound resveratrol, which has powerful antioxidant properties. Despite the great number of publications on the anticancer effectiveness of resveratrol, they were all aimed at studying its action once the condition was established. This experiment was the first to study the dynamics of the anticancer activity of resveratrol in the development of chemically induced colorectal cancer. Administrating resveratrol along with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) during 30 weeks led to the inhibition of oxidative stress manifestations, in particular, lipid peroxidation. Our research showed that the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in blood serum was 85.1%, 214.6%, and 276.9% lower on the third, fifth, and seventh months of the experiment in the group of rats that obtained resveratrol, compared with the animals affected only by DMH. In the fifth month of the experiment, we noticed that the GPx activity in blood serum was 1.54 times higher than the DMH-control level. During the next 8 weeks, this indicator decreased. The activity of glutathione reductase increased by 2 times in the seventh month, compared with the DMH-control. Histologically resveratrol decelerated the development of the tumor. After 30 weeks of experiment, rats that were receiving only DMH had developed colon adenocarcinoma in situ. In contrast to them, morphological changes in the colon tissue of the animals that obtained resveratrol + DMH could be characterized as signs of mucous colitis.