Secondary bile acids effects in colon pathology. Experimental mice study.

PURPOSE: To assess whether deoxycholic acid (DOC) and lithocholic acid (LCA) administered in a period of six months in a concentration of 0.25% may have a carcinogenic role in mice colon.

METHODS

The study used C57BL6 female mice divided into four groups. The control group received a balanced diet and the others received diets supplemented with 0.25% DOC, 0.25% LCA and 0.125% DOC+0.125% LCA, respectively. After euthanasia, the lesions found in the resected gastrointestinal tracts were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and examined microscopically.

RESULTS

No gastrointestinal tract changes were observed in the control group, while hyperplastic Peyer's patches in the small intestine, flat adenomas with mild dysplasia and chronic colitis at the level of the colon were found in all three test groups. The colonic lesions prevailed in the proximal colon. The highest number of flat adenoma lesions (8), hyperplasia of Peyer's patches (25) and chronic colitis (2) were found in mice fed with diet and LCA.

CONCLUSION

Precancerous or cancerous pathological lesions could not be identified. Instead, adenomatous colonic injuries occurred in a shorter period of time (six months), compared to the reported data.