Lung tumorigenesis in mice after chronic exposure in early life to a low dose of dimethylnitrosamine.

Strain A female mice were exposed to 10 ppb dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) in their drinking water for 4 weeks before mating. Treatment was continued through pregnancy and lactation and after weaning until the progeny were 22 weeks old. The incidence of primary lung tumors among the treated progeny (23%) was significantly higher (P less than 0.021) than that among controls (8%). The effect of the DMN was greatest among the males: 32% had lung tumors, compared with 4% of the control males (P less than 0.016). The DMN-exposed females also had a higher lung tumor incidence than did the controls, but the difference was not of statistical significance. These results demonstrate carcinogenicity of DMN at a dose approaching amounts possibly encountered by the human population as a result of environmental exposure.