Exceptional carcinogenic activity of benz[a]anthracene 3,4-dihydrodiol in the newborn mouse and the bay region theory.

Benz[a]anthracene and the five metabolically possible trans-dihydrodiols of benz[a]anthracene were tested for carcinogenicity in newborn Swiss-Webster mice. Four hundred, 800, and 1600 nmoles hydrocarbon i.p. were sequentially injected on Days 1, 8, and 15 of life. The mice were killed at 22 weeks of age. Of the mice treated with trans-3,4-dihydroxy-3, 4-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, 24% developed malignant lymphoma, whereas 4% of the animals treated with benz[a]anthracene had malignant lymphoma. None of the animals treated with the trans-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, trans-5,6-dihydroxy-5,6-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, trans-8,9-dihydroxy-8,9-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, or trans-10,11-dihydroxy-10,11-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene had malignant lymphoma. trans-3,4-Dihydroxy-3,4-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene caused about 35-fold more pulmonary adenomas than did benz[a]anthracene, whereas the trans-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, trans-5,6-dihydroxy-5,6-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, trans-8,9-dihydroxy-8,9-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene, and trans-10, 11-dihydroxy-10,11-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene had little or no activity. The exceptionally high carcinogenicity of trans-3,4-dihydroxy-3,4-dihydrobenz[a]anthracene is consistent with the metabolism of this compound to either or both of the diastereomeric bay region 3,4-dihydroxy-1,2-epoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenz[a]anthracenes, and the data support the bay region theory of polycyclic hydrocarbon carcinogenesis.