[Effect of ethanol on the hepatocarcinogenic action of N-nitrosodiethylamine in rats].

It is shown that the administration of ethanol to male Wistar rats (3 g/kg by gastric tube 3 times a week for 2 months) before or at the beginning of the N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) treatment (2.5 mg/kg 6 times a week in drinking water) reduces the hepatocarcinogenicity of NDEA. This was expressed macroscopically by less important neoplastic changes and biochemically by the higher glucose-6-phosphatase and lower glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities in the liver.