Comparative study on organ-specificity of tumorigenicity, mutagenicity and cell proliferative activity induced by dimethylnitrosamine in Big Blue® mice

Recently, we have shown that dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) treatments increase lacI mutant frequency in the liver, kidney and lung but not in other organs, and also enhance cell proliferation only in the bronchial epithelia. In the present study, organ specificity of tumorigenicity induced by DMN was compared to those of lacI mutation and cell proliferation in Big Blue® mice. Male 8-week-old Big Blue® mice were treated with daily i.p. injections of 1 or 10 mg/kg DMN for 5 days, or a single i.p. injection of 5 or 10 mg/kg DMN. Except for the 10 mg/kg×5 DMN group, all animals survived until 78 weeks after the first treatment of DMN. In the present study, the induction of cell proliferation in the bronchial epithelia was confirmed in a dose-dependent manner. At the termination of 78 weeks, it was histopathologically shown that the DMN-treated mice developed liver cell tumor in three out of seven (43%) of the 5 mg/kg group, renal tubule dysplasia in three out of seven (43%) of the 1 mg/kg×5 group, and duodenal adenocarcinoma in one of seven (14%) of the 1 mg/kg×5 group, although no neoplastic or preneoplastic lesions were found in the control mice. Because non-transgenic C57BL/6 mice are resistant to developing spontaneous liver cell and duodenal tumors, it was speculated that even these low doses of DMN could be sufficient to initiate target cells. Our results thus suggest that organ specificity of tumorigenicity by DMN is in favorable agreement with that of lacI mutation but not with possibly temporal cell proliferation induced by DMN.