Malignant transformation of rat liver cells by N-benzoyloxy-3'-methyl-4-methylaminoazobenzene and its related compound.

N-Benzoyloxy-3'-methyl-4-methylaminoazobenzene-(N-benzoyloxy-3'-Me-MAB) was highly toxic to rat liver epithelial cells (Ac2F) and induced many more chromosome aberrations and unscheduled DNA synthesis than did 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (3'-Me-DAB). N-Benzoyloxy-3'-Me-MAB and its related compound, N-acetoxy-4-methylaminoazobenzene, efficiently induced malignant transformation of the cells, but 3'-Me-DAB was not so effective. The cells transformed by N-acyloxy-4-methylaminoazobenzene (N-acyloxy-MAB) derivatives showed significant increases in plating efficiency in liquid medium and in the size of aggregates in rotation culture. Such increases were not seen in the 3'-Me-DAB-transformed cells. The results indicate that the N-acyloxy form of the 4-dimethylaminobenzene derivatives seems very likely to be the ultimate metabolite.