Metabolism of N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine in the mongolian gerbil (meriones unguiculatus).

Adult male gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) received a single s.c. injection of N-nitroso(methyl-14C) methylbenzylamine (2.5 mg/kg body weight). Of the radioactivity injected 46% was exhaled as 14CO2 within 8-10 hours and an additional 21% was excreted as urinary metabolites. Six hours after injection of the carcinogen, methylation of DNA bases was highest in lung (81.5 mumol 7-methylguanine/mol guanine) followed by liver, esophagus, kidney, forestomach, glandular stomach, spleen, colon and small intestine. The brain DNA no alkylation products were detectable. These data differ significantly from those obtained in rats and mice which under similar experimental conditions metabolized N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine preferentially in esophagus and liver respectively.