Effects of oat soluble and insoluble β-glucan on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced early colon carcinogenesis in mice

The study is aimed at studying the effects of soluble and insoluble oat β-glucan on colon carcinogenesis in mice. One hundred and twenty male Kunming mice were divided into normal control (NC), model control (MC), high doses (100 mg/kg body weight) of soluble (H-SOG) and insoluble β-glucan (H-IOG), and low doses (50 mg/kg body weight) of soluble (L-SOG) and insoluble β-glucan (L-IOG) groups. The mice except those in the NC group were given subcutaneous injections of DMH to induce colon cancer. The bile acid content was significantly reduced but the colonic short-chain fatty acid content was enhanced (p < .05) in mice administered β-glucan, moreover, the tumor cells apoptosis was significantly promoted (p < .05), compared to the MC group. The effect of high doses β-glucan was better than the low doses, but there is little difference between the SOG and IOG. Results suggested that both SOG and IOG exert favorable effects in preventing colon cancer in a doses-dependent manner while the specific mechanism maybe different.