Abstract
The present study was undertaken to examine the susceptibility of catechol on the gastric mucosa of male rasH2 mice which have high susceptibility to genotoxic carcinogens. Mice were divided into 4 groups consisting of 7 to 15 per group, and given diets containing catechol at doses of 0, 0.2, 0.4 or 0.8% for 26 weeks. In the pyloric mucosa of the stomach, hyperplasias of gastric mucosa were significantly increased in the groups treated with 0.4% or more catechol, along with increased proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) positive rates, but no stomach tumors were induced. In the fundic mucosa of the stomach, the incidences of atrophic fundic glands with fewer and atrophic parietal cells were significantly increased in the groups treated with 0.4% or more catechol. In the forestomach, epithelial hyperplasias of the limiting ridge were observed in 5 of 15 mice given 0.8% catechol. These results suggest that rasH2 mice are not susceptible to glandular stomach carcinogenesis induced by catechol, although pyloric epithelial hyperplasias and increased proliferation activity of the pyloric mucosa were induced in rasH2 mice given the higher doses of catechol.
