Effect of Added Dietary Calcium on Colonic Epithelial-Cell Proliferation in Subjects at High Risk for Familial Colonic Cancer

Abstract

We studied the frequency and distribution of proliferating epithelial cells lining colonic crypts in 10 subjects at high risk for familial colonic cancer, before and after oral supplementation of their conventional diets with 1.25 g of calcium as calcium carbonate. Patterns of cell proliferation were defined by dividing the colonic crypt into longitudinal compartments and comparing the numbers and fractions of tritiated thymidine—labeled epithelial cells in the various compartments.