Effect of treatments with unripe and ripe papaya fiber in a model of in vivo colon carcinogenesis

• Grant number: 18/06266-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2018
• End date: January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Joao Paulo Fabi
• Grantee: Rodrigo Invernort Tamarossi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/23970-2 - Biological changes of papaya pectins with possible benefits to human health, AP.JP

Abstract

The high incidence of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) can be influenced by certain habits, such as low-consumption foods that are foods with high amounts of dietary fiber (CEC 2008). Soluble dietary fibers are not hydrolyzed by the endogenous enzymes of the human gastrointestinal tract being fermented by the intestinal microbiota (Anderson et al., 2009). The pectins present in fruits are considered as soluble fibers and play an important role in inhibiting intestinal carcinogenesis, showing that their regular consumption can be beneficial (Mudgil & Barak, 2013). Papaya papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a tropical fruit whose pulp contains large amounts of pectins, and it is possible to infer that its consumption can also have beneficial effects. In fact, previous in vitro experiments demonstrated a high biological activity of papain pectins in inhibiting the proliferation of colon cancer cells (Prado et al., 2017). During the maturation of papaya, an increase in the action of enzymes that degrade the pectic matrix (Fabi et al., 2012, 2014; Prado et al., 2016) leads to an increase in soluble pectins that exerted anticancer activity in vitro (Prado et al., 2017). Therefore, the objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of dietary fiber intake of papaya papaya green and mature in rats induced to colon carcinogenesis. (AU)