African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 1 (2), pp. 46–49, December 2002

ISSN 1684-5315  © 2002 Academic Journals  

Monoterpenes reduced adducts formation in rats exposed to aflatoxin B₁

J. Abiodun Elegbede^1* and Michael N. Gould²

¹UNLV Cancer Institute/Chemistry Department, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4003

²McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI 53706-1599

* Corresponding author; tel: 1-(702) 895-3174; fax: 1-(702) 895-4072; e-mail: belegbede@ccmail.nevada.edu

Accepted 13 November 2002

Perillyl alcohol and d-limonene are naturally occurring plant compounds that exhibited anti-carcinogenic activities in mammary tumor models.  The effects of these monoterpenes at the initiation stage of aflatoxin B₁-induced hepatocarcinogenesis were investigated.  Male F344 rats were fed Control or treatment diets throughout the study and exposed to aflatoxin for 5 days.  Three days after the last aflatoxin dose, blood and liver samples were obtained.  Analysis of liver samples showed that both limonene and perillyl alcohol significantly inhibited (p<0.05) aflatoxin-DNA adducts formation in hepatocytes.  The monoterpenes may have potential for use as chemopreventive agent against aflatoxin-induced liver cancer.

Keywords: Aflatoxin B₁, hepatocarcinogenesis, monoterpenes, chemoprevention.