Abstract

Alterations in mitochondria oxygen consumption and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was studied in 96 Wister albino rats exposed to cycads and fed on Nigerian like and western like diets supplemented with folic acid. The animals were divided into three diet classes of 32 animals each. First group was fed with a wholly compounded Nigerian like diet (NLD) which was low in protein and high in carbohydrate and fiber. Another group was fed with a western like diet (WLD) which was high in protein and fat while the third group of animals was fed with a normal diet (ND) which served as the control class. The animals of each class were further distributed into four subgroups of eight rats each. In each subclass, first group received the diet alone; second group received the diet and cycads, third group received the diet and folic acid while the fourth group received the diet, cycads and folic acid. Exposing the colon of rats to NLD decreased glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and increased mitochondria oxygen consumption. WLD increased glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and decreased mitochondria oxygen consumption while folic acid decreased glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity but increased mitochondria oxygen consumption at the initial stage of colon carcinogenesis. These results suggest that NLD and folic acid may protect rats against colon cancer and the WLD may enhance colon carcinogenesis. Therefore, a nutritional shift from NLD to WLD is likely to cause a higher incidence of colon cancer.

Key words: Cycads, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, mitochondria oxygen consumption, Nigerian-like diet (NLD), Western-like diet (WLD).