Colorectal cancer causes the most cancer-associated death worldwide, having a high cancer incidence. Pectin is a complex polysaccharide present in various fruits, emerging as an anti-carcinogenic candidate. Although pectin has a suppressive capacity for colon carcinogenesis, the effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and colonic aberrant foci formation in the colon carcinogenesis mouse model remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigates the regulatory effect of pectin supplementation on colon carcinogenesis induced by azoxymethane (AOM) and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in mice. In an animal experiment, thirty male institute for cancer research (ICR) mice were divided into two experimental groups; AOM/DSS (control group) and AOM/DSS + pectin (5% in drinking water). Furthermore, the number of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and aberrant crypt (AC) on colonic mucosa were counted, and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay was performed to estimate lipid peroxidation in feces. Pectin treatment significantly decreased the number of ACF and AC per colon compared with the control. Additionally, fecal TBARS level in the pectin group was significantly lower than those in the control group. Conclusively, these findings indicate that pectin-inhibited hyperplastic alteration and oxidative stress suppress colitis-associated colon carcinogenesis.

Damages by Tyrophagus spp. (Acari: Acaridae) on horticultural crops were newly observed in recent years especially in organic culture greenhouses in Korea. The crops damaged by the mite species were Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach), Cucumis sativus (cucumber), and Phalaenopsis schilleriana (orchid). The spinach inner leaf growth was halted affected by the feeding of Tyrophagus similis at the early stage of the shoot emergence. The young leaves of the spinach bud had small holes and the leaves were deformed as they grew up. The surface of young cucumber fruits became shiny and soft at the early damage stage and the damaged surfaces became corky as the plants grew up. The mite from cucumber was identified as Tyrophagus neiswanderi Johnston & Bruce. In phalaenopsis orchid, the flower buds became yellow and dropped and the lower side of the leaves had white spots. The damages were caused by Tyrophagus putrescentiae.