Interaction of dietary fat and route of carcinogen administration on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon tumorigenesis in rats.

Since the results of an earlier study indicating no effect of dietary fat on dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer in rats differed from those of other investigators, the present study was initiated to determine if the modulating effect of fat intake on colon tumorigenesis was dependent on the route of DMH administration. Male weanling Sprague-Dawley rats (160) were fed one of two nutritionally balanced diets containing 5% or 24% corn oil (CO). Following 3 weeks adaptation to their respective diets, 40 rats from each diet group were treated with five doses of DMH (30 mg/kg) by intragastric (i.g.) gavage or subcutaneous (s.c.) injection, over a 3 week period. Rats were sacrificed when they showed clinical signs of colon tumor and surviving animals were killed 51 weeks after the initial DMH treatment. The cumulative probability of death with colon carcinoma did not differ between the dietary or treatment groups. There was no effect of route of administration or dietary fat on total intestinal tumor incidence. The number of rats with colon carcinoma was: 5% CO.IG = 25; 24% CO.IG = 27; 5% CO.SC = 23; 24% CO.SC = 19. Polypoid tumor incidence was significantly higher in the 24% CO.SC group (12/40) compared to the 5% CO.SC group (3/40) (Chi-squared = 5.25; p less than 0.03) while sessile tumor incidence was the inverse. Marginally significant differences in tumor morphology were noted between the IG groups.