Inhibition by the calmodulin antagonist trifluoperazine of experimental hepatocarcinogenesis induced by N-nitrosomorpholine in Sprague-Dawley rats.

The effect of the calmodulin antagonist trifluoperazine on hepatocarcinogenesis induced by N-nitrosomorpholine (NNM) and on the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity and labeling index of the liver were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were given drinking water containing NNM for 8 weeks, and from the beginning of the experiment, received s.c. injections of 15 or 30 mg/kg body weight of trifluoperazine in depot form every other day until the end of the experiment. Preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions staining positively for glutathione-S-transferase, placental type (GST-P) were examined histochemically. In week 16, quantitative histological analysis showed that prolonged administration of 30 mg but not 15 mg/kg body weight of trifluoperazine resulted in significant reductions in the number and percentage area of GST-P-positive hepatic lesions. Trifluoperazine also caused significant decreases in the ODC activity of the liver and in the labeling indices of enzyme-altered lesions and their adjacent hepatocytes. These findings indicate that trifluoperazine inhibits carcinogenesis and suggest that this effect may be closely related to its effect in inhibiting ODC activity and cell proliferation in the enzyme-altered lesions and their adjacent liver.