Effect of 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene on liver cells from adult rat in primary culture.

Primary mass cultures of isolated liver cells, which prepared from normal adult rat by a collagenase-liver-perfusion technique, were treated with 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (3'-Me-DAB) to study the production of transformed liver cells. Enzymatically isolated liver cells had high sensitivity to 3'-Me-DAB in primary culture. By 2- or 6-day treatment, mature hepatocytes remarkably decreased in their numbers due to cytotoxic effect of 3-Me-DAB, but thereafter active proliferation of epithelial-like clear cells was observed. Six-day treatment induced epithelial-like clear cells with gross chromosomal abnormalities, although 2-day treatment failed to induce transformed cells. However, the transformed epithelial-like clear cells with chromosomal abnormalities were negative for gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT).