Influence of diet restriction and tumor promoter dose on cell proliferation, oxidative DNA damage and rate of papilloma appearance in the mouse skin after initiation with DMBA and promotion with TPA

The mouse skin tumor initiation-promotion model was used to investigate the protective effect of diet restriction in mechanistic and quantitative terms. A total of five groups of 14 male NMRI mice were initiated with 100 nmol 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) and promoted twice weekly with 2.5, 1.25, or 0.625 nmol 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Food intake was ad libitum (all 3 TPA dose levels! or restricted to 70 % (high and intermediate TPA dose levels). Time of appearance of the first papilloma was recorded for each mouse. Two weeks later, an osmotic minipump delivering 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) was implanted and the mouse was killed after 24 h. Cell proliferation in the epidermis was assessed by immunohistochemistry for BrdU incorporated into DNA. 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) in epidermal DNA was determined by HPLC/elecectrochemical detection. The median latency time (t(50)) for the appearance of skin papilloma in the high-, intermediate-, and low-dose TPA groups fed ad libitum was 9, 15.5, and 23.5 weeks, respectively. The diet-restricted groups thigh and intermediate TPA dose) showed t(50) values of 16 and 26 weeks. Therefore, diet restriction to 70% had approximately the same protective effect as reducing the dose of TPA by a factor of two. Both the rate of cell proliferation and the level of 8-OH-dG in the epidermis increased with the dose of TPA. Median values were increased 3- to 4-fold at the highest dose. In controls, but not in TPA-treated animals. diet restriction resulted in a decrease for both markers, by 25 and 40% for the labeling index for cell division and the level of 8-OH-dG, respectively. Both markers showed an inverse relationship with the median papilloma latency time. On an individual basis, the correlation was significant in some groups, but only for the labeling index. The data indicate that protection from the skin tumor-promoting effect of TPA by diet restriction could be based more on a reduction of the rate of cell division than on a reduction of oxidative DNA damage. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.