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.

호박과피는 과육에 비해 매우 높은 16%의 식이섬유를 함유하고 있었고, 이로부터 분리된 호박과피펙틴은 53%의 galactuonic acid를 함량을 나타내었으나, 타 펙틴에 비해 매우 높은 메틸기를 함유한 high methoxyl pectin(HMP)로 확인되었다. 또한 0.34%의 낮은 수준이나, 일부 아세틸기를 함유하고 있어, 기존의 펙틴질과 차별화될 수 있는 구조적 특징을 보유하고 있었다. 담즙산과의 결합능에 있어서는 다른 펙틴질에 비해 비교적 높은 9%의 결합능을 보여, 식품 소재로서의 우수한 특성을 보유하고 있어 향후 식품 소재로서의 개발이 가능할 것으로 판단되었다.