Effect of acrylonitrile on primary Syrian golden hamster embryo cells in culture: transformation and DNA fragmentation.

Application of acrylonitrile to primary Syrian golden hamster embryo cells (HEC) in culture produced foci of morphologically transformed cells. When similar cells were pretreated with simian adenovirus (SA7) and subsequently treated with acrylonitrile, up to an 8.9-fold increase in frequency of virus-transformed foci was noted over frequency noted for cultures treated only with SA7. When [3H]thymidine-labeled primary Syrian golden HEC were treated with acrylonitrile and cellular DNA was subsequently subjected to alkaline sucrose gradients, a shift in the sedimentation pattern reminiscent of that observed for chemical carcinogens was noted. These observations added support to recent studies indicating that acrylonitrile may be carcinogenic.