Transgenic Alfalfa That Accumulates Piceid (Trans-Resveratrol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside) Requires the Presence of beta-Glucosidase to Inhibit the Formation of Aberrant Crypt Foci in the Colon of CF-1 Mice
2007
Kineman, B.D. | Au, A. | Paiva, N.L. | Kaiser, M.S. | Brummer, E.C. | Birt, D.F.
Plants have been genetically enhanced to produce a number of products for agricultural, industrial and pharmaceutical purposes. This technology could potentially be applied to providing chemoprevention strategies to the general population. Resveratrol (3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) is a compound that has been shown to have protective activity against a number of cancers and could be an ideal candidate for such an application. Alfalfa that was genetically modified to express resveratrol-synthase was used as a model in applying biotechnological approaches to cancer prevention. The transgenic alfalfa, which accumulates resveratrol as a glucoside (piceid = trans-resveratrol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside) (152 ± 17.5 μg piceid/g dry weight), was incorporated into a standard mouse diet at 20% of the diet by weight and fed for 5 wk to 6-wk-old, female CF-1 mice (N = 17-30) that were injected with a single dose of azoxymethane (5 mg/kg body weight). While the addition of resveratrol-aglycone (20 mg/kg diet) to the basal diet reduced the number of aberrant crypt foci/mouse, the transgenic alfalfa did not inhibit the number, size, or multiplicity of aberrant crypt foci in the colon of the CF-1 mice relative to control alfalfa which does not accumulate resveratrol-glucoside. However, diets containing transgenic alfalfa with an exogenous Beta-glucosidase (860 U/kg diet) did significantly inhibit the number of aberrant crypt foci in the distal 2 cm of the colon of the mice relative to mice fed diets containing the transgenic alfalfa without the enzyme (P < 0.05; Fisher's Combination of p-values). The beta-glucosidase alone appeared to have no effect on the inhibition of aberrant crypt foci. These results suggest that piceid in transgenic piceid-accumulating alfalfa was not bioavailable.
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