Cell cycle-dependent initiation of adenosine triphosphatase-deficient populations in adult rat liver by a single dose of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea.

Changes in the sensitivity of hepatocytes to initiation during the cell cycle were investigated in partially resected hydroxyurea-synchronized regenerating rat liver. At defined periods of the cell cycle the animals were given injections of a single dose of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) (25 mg/kg) and were subsequently exposed to diethylnitrosamine for 30 days (2 mg/kg/day) or to phenobarbital (0.05% in the diet) for 80 days. Adenosine triphosphatase-deficient cell populations in the liver, determined 90 days after MNU treatment, served as a marker for the initiating action of the carcinogen. Few foci were observed when MNU treatment was performed during early G1. Their frequency increased steeply after MNU injection at G1-S boundary and reached a maximum after carcinogen exposure in early S phase, when the number of adenosine triphosphatase-deficient foci was higher by a factor of 5 (after diethylnitrosamine feeding) or 10 (after phenobarbital feeding) than after MNU exposure in early G1 phase. A rapid decline was observed in middle S phase. The frequency of altered foci after MNU in late S phase and during G2-M was in the same range as in early G1. Their size distribution was similar in all groups. The results confirm and extend earlier observations of an increased initiating effect of a carcinogen during liver regeneration. Under in vivo conditions, hepatocytes are, after HU synchronization, at the highest risk of being initiated by a carcinogen when they traverse the early S phase of the cell cycle.