Use of aquarium fish, Danio rerio and Poecilia reticulata, as test species for evaluation of nitrosamine carcinogenicity.

The carcinogenic effects of various doses of dimethylnitrosamine (DMNA), diethylnitrosamine (DENA), and nitrosomorpholine (NM), as well as the results of varying temperature and length of exposure to these carcinogens, were studied in short-term (20-21 wk) experiments in aquarium fish (820 Danio rerio and 944 Poecilia reticulata). All nitroso compounds induced liver tumors (hepatocellular carcinomas and adenomas, cholangiomas, and cholangiocarcinomas) and esophageal papillomas. Exposure to NM also induced intestinal adenocarcinomas in D. rerio. At a conventional temperature (22 degrees +/- 1 degree C), tumors were induced in 76% of the D. rerio in an average of 13.8 weeks following an initial 8-week exposure to 100 ppm DMNA and in 22% of P. reticulata in an average of 10.9 weeks. The DENA exposure resulted in tumors in 61.5% of Danio by 15 weeks and in 29% of Poecilia in 15.5 weeks. Under the same conditions, 500 ppm NM induced tumors in 78% of the zebra fish in 15.6 weeks and in 75% of the guppies after 12.3 weeks. When exposure time was shortened to 2 weeks, the dosage was decreased, or if the temperature was reduced to 17 degrees +/- 1 degree C, the tumor incidence dropped and the latency increased. An increase in temperature to 27 degrees +/- 1 degree C resulted in a 72-89% tumor incidence and shortened the latency to 11.3-14.1 weeks. Thus the modulation of our experimental conditions to maximize tumor incidence and minimize mean latency permitted the use of the aquarium fish D. rerio and P. reticulata for the screening of carcinogenic nitrosamines.