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Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid, made up of four carbon atoms. Along with acetate and propionate, they are the main volatile fatty acids formed by the microbial fermentation of the carbohydrates of dietary fibre in the colon, mainly in the caecum. Additionally, they acidify the intracolonic pH, and they play an important role in the regulation of the absorption of water and sodium. On the other hand, they are, especially butyrate, preferred by the colon cell, as sources of energy alternative to glucose. Besides this, butyrate, in cellular cultures, is a known antineoplasic agent which is characterized by doubling the cellular duplication time for cells in the G1 phase, it increases the activity of certain enzymes, it stimulates the effects of interferon, it modifies the morphology of the cells, which in some cases leads to the reversion of the characteristic transformations of the cancerous cells, and it produces alterations in the chromatin, the nucleoli, elements of the cytoskeleton and the Golgi apparatus. Even though it is not known how it causes these actions, it is thought that the acetylization of histones which it produces, may be an important mechanism. We analyzed the effect of this substance in a colonic carcinogenesis model in Sprague-Dawley rats, in which the tumors were induced with the alkylating agent 1,2-dimethylhydrazide, observing the cytometric pattern of the tumors, and the possible differences between both groups. In one of them, sodium butyrate was continuously infused by means of a intrathecal catheter at a rhythm of 1.5 ml/hour during the tumoral induction which lasted four weeks.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) |
