The effect ofdietary phenobarbital on the induction of skin tumors in hairless mice with 7, 12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene

Biochemical Pilot Study on Effects of Pomegranate Seed Oil Extract and Cosmetic Cream on Neurologically Mediated Skin Inflammation in Animals and Humans: A Comparative Observational Study

The presence of phenobarbital and formaldehyde in drugs, food, and beverages can lead to various health issues, including inflammation, oncogenesis, and neurological distress. Psychological stress leads to mood fluctuations and the onset of skin inflammation. Skin inflammation has a range of causes, including chemicals, heavy metals, infection, immune-related disorders, genetics, and stress. The various treatments for skin inflammation include medical and cosmetic creams, diet changes, and herbal therapy. In this study, we investigated the effects of Avocom-M and pomegranate seed oil extract (PSOE) against phenobarbital- and formaldehyde-induced skin biochemical changes in rats. We analyzed the constituents of PSOE using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. We also observed biochemical changes in the skin of human volunteers with and without TROSYD and PSOE as a skin cream. We compared the biochemical changes in human volunteers' skin before treatment and 21 days after the treatment stopped. The outcomes showed an improvement in the rats' biochemical status, due to PSOE and Avocom-M treatment. The human volunteers treated with TROSYD and PSOE showed substantial amelioration of skin inflammation. PSOE, Avocom-M, and TROSYD produced beneficial effects by reducing the levels of cyclooxygenase-2, lipid peroxidation, tyrosinase, hyaluronidase, elastase, collagenase, and nitric oxide in the animals tested on and in human volunteers.

Cocarcinogens and Tumor Promoters and Their Environmental Importance

In recent years a great deal of effort has been spent on uncovering new carcinogens and studying the mode of action of well-known carcinogens such as nitroso compounds, aromatic hydrocarbons and aromatic amines and their occurrence in air, water, foods and other environmental sources. It has been known for about thirty years that some materials, while non-carcinogenic, can enhance greatly the potency of low-levels of known environmental carcinogens. The first such material to be discovered was the tumor promotor, croton oil, derived from the seeds of a tropical plant, Croton tiglium L, indigenous to India and Sri Lanka. Researchers interested in chemical carcinogenesis have examined its unusual behavior for many years. The active principles of croton oil, the phorbol esters, were finally isolated and chemically characterized. Recently these phorbol esters have become widely available. Consequently, their effects have been examined in a wide range of biochemical and biological studies. The phorbol esters are not environmental factors in cancer causation since they occur in a toxic plant which is not used as a source of animal or human food. Other known tumor promoters are much less active, e.g., anthralin (1,8-dihydroxy-9-anthrone) and phenol. Thus, the phorbol esters, although valuable tools in studies on chemical carcinogenesis, are less relevant to environmental health and disease than another group of compounds known as cocarcinogens. Many cocarcinogens are ubiquitous environmental agents and only recently have these compounds been given more attention. It is expected that as more of these agents become known as environmental agents, new advances in cancer prevention will be made.

Rat Liver Foci Bioassay

This article is a review of the rat liver foci bioassay which is an initiation/promotion assay that utilizes preneoplastic foci of hepatocytes possessing altered enzymatic activity and altered cellular constituents as indicators of carcinogenesis. Rat liver tumor promoters that have been employed in the assay include: (1) a low level of 2-acetylaminofluorene in the diet, (2) phenobarbital in the diet and drinking water and (3) a choline deficient diet. Camma-glutamyl transpeptidase-positive, and adenosine triphosphatase, and glucose-6-phosphatase-defi-cient foci are used to indicate the initiation of cancer and are reviewed with respect to their relationship to cancer. Partial hepatectomy at the time of initiation increases the sensitivity of the assay to dialkylnitrosamines and chemicals which are otherwise negative in rat liver. The protocols being developed by the Health Effects Research Laboratory in Cincinnati include: (1) partial hepatectomy either 18 hours prior to or 14 days after administering the chemical under test, (2) phenobarbital promotion and (3) using gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-positive foci as the indicator of carcinogenesis. The article also reviews the rat liver foci bioassay as a component of the Carcinogenesis Testing Matrix for tier II where it will be employed to confirm the carcinogenic hazard associated with environmental samples containing complex mixtures.

Effect of phenobarbital on the development of neoplastic lesions in the liver of cycasin-treated rats

The effect of phenobarbital on the development of neoplastic lesions by cycasin was examined in inbred ACI rats. Tumor development in the liver and the kidney was observed in groups of rats treated with a single oral administration of cycasin (100 mg/kg body weight) and maintained on either a control diet or one supplemented with 0.05% phenobarbital. The feeding of phenobarbital diet after the application of cycasin significantly increased the incidence of liver tumors in female rats, but not in male rats. On the other hand, the administration of phenobarbital did not affect the incidence of kidney tumors in either sex. In addition, many large gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT)-positive foci, which were thought to be preneoplastic lesions, developed in the liver of rats treated with cycasin and then phenobarbital, whereas a small number of tiny foci were seen in rats treated with cycasin alone. Long-term feeding of the 0.05% phenobarbital diet without treatment of cycasin induced many GGT-positive foci which, however, were small-sized. These data indicated phenobarbital to possess a tumor-promoting effect in terms of induction of neoplastic lesions in the liver but not in the kidney.