Effect of retinoic acid on cell proliferation kinetics and retinoic acid receptor expression of colorectal mucosa

AIM: To investigate the effect of retinoic acid (RA) on cell proliferation kinetics and retinoic acid receptor (RAR)expression of colorectal mucosa.METHODS:One hundred sixty healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Rats in groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ were subcutaneously injected with dimethylhydrazine (DMH) (20 mg/kg, once a week,) for 7 to 13 weeks, while groups Ⅲ and Ⅳ were injected with normal saline. Rats in groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ were also treated with RA (50 mg/kg,every day, orally) from 7th to 15th week, thus group Ⅳ was used as a control. The rats were killed in different batches.The expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA),nucleolar organizer region-associated protein (AgNOR) and RAR were detected.RESULTS: The incidence of colorectal carcinoma was different between groupsⅠ(100 %) and Ⅱ (15 %) (P＜0.01).The PCNA indices and mean AgNOR count in group Ⅱ were significantly lower than those in group Ⅰ(F=5.418 and 4.243,P＜0.01). The PCNA indices and mean AgNOR count in groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ were significantly higher than those in the groups Ⅲ and Ⅳ (in which carcinogen was not used) (F=5.927and 4.348, P＜0.01). There was a tendency in group Ⅰ that the longer the induction with DMH the higher PCNA index and AgNOR count expressed (F=7.634 and 6.826, P＜0.05).However, there was no such tendency in groups Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ(F=1.662 and 1.984, P＞0.05). The levels of RAR in normal and cancerous tissues in groups treated with RA were significantly higher than those in groups not treated with RA (F=6.343 and 6.024, P＜0.05).CONCLUSION: RA decreases the incidence of colorectal carcinoma induced by DMH. Coiorectal cancer tissue is associated with abnormal expression of PCNA, AgNOR and RAR. RA inhibits the expression of PCNA and AgNOR, and increases RAR concentration in colorectal tissues.