The effect of dietary apigenin on colonic ornithine decarboxylase activity, aberrant crypt foci formation and tumorigenesis in different experimental models

The efficacy of dietary apigenin, a dietary flavonoid, in colon cancer prevention was investigated by evaluating the inhibition of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity and the formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and by studying the ability of apigenin to block colon carcinogenesis in two mouse models. First, the activity of ODC was measured in colon cancer cells (Caco-2) and in the colon epithelium of CF-1 mice. Apigenin at 10 and 30 μM significantly inhibited the ODC activity of Caco-2 cells by 26 and 57% respectively. Colonic ODC activity in CF-1 mice was reduced with 0.1% dietary apigenin by 42% compared with the control but this difference was not statistically significant. Second, ACF formation was evaluated in azoxymethane (AOM)-induced CF-1 mice. Female CF-1 mice at 6 weeks of age were i.p. injected with 5 mg/kg body weight (BW) AOM once to induce ACF. ACF formation in CF-1 mice was reduced by 50% (p