Background: Calponin is a calmodulin-and actinbinding protein expressed in smooth muscle. It promotes actin polymerization and inhibits actinactivated myosin ATPase activity. Despite the molecular and functional characterization of calponin in vitro, the physiological role of calponin in vivo has not been clarified.
The effect of cysteamine (2-aminoethanethiol hydrochloride) on the incidence and histology of gastric adenocarcinomas induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) was investigated in inbred Wistar rats. Prolonged administration of 25 or 50 mg per kg body weight of cysteamine after treatment with MNNG for 25 weeks significantly reduced the incidence and number of adenocarcinomas of the glandular stomach. Histological examination showed that the adenocarcinomas that did develop in rats treated with these 2 doses of cysteamine had high mucin-producing activity. Furthermore, treatment with cysteamine caused significant increases in serum gastrin level and gastric acid secretion, together with significant decreases in the antral mucosal pH and the labelling indices of pyloric and oxyntic gland mucosae and gastric cancer. These findings indicate that cysteamine inhibits the development of gastric adenocarcinomas and that its effect may be related to decreasing proliferation of cells in the gastric mucosae.
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