Modifying influence of prior treatment with toxic agents on induction of preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions in a medium-term multi-organ carcinogenesis bioassay.

The modifying potential of prior administration of toxic agents was investigated in our multi-organ carcinogenesis model using male F344/DuCrj rats with the aim of assessing the link between tissue damage and initiation. Animals were administered one of four toxic agents for 8 wk, and then treated with N-diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 100 mg/kg body weight (b.w.), intraperitoneally (i.p.), single injection), N-methylnitrosourea (MNU, 20 mg/kg b.w., i.p., four times during wk 9 and 10), and dihydroxy-di-N-propylnitrosamine (DHPN, 0.1% in drinking water, during wk 11 and 12) for multi-organ carcinogenesis. All surviving rats were killed at the end of wk 36, and the major organs carefully examined for preneoplastic and neoplastic lesion development. Immunohistochemical demonstration of glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-P) positive foci was also performed to facilitate quantitative assessment of liver lesion development. D-galactosamine (300 mg/kg b.w., i.p., once a week), a hepatotoxin, significantly inhibited the induction of GST-P positive foci, while 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (DDPM, 0.1% in diet), a bile duct proliferator which is itself a hepatocarcinogen, possessed enhancing activity. DDPM, also a goitrogen, clearly inhibited the development of follicular cell tumors in the thyroid. Uracil (3.0% in diet), which is an inducer of papillomatosis in the urinary bladder, did not exert any enhancing potential on bladder carcinogenesis. Bleomycin (2 mg/kg b.w., i.p., twice a week), which is an alveolar epithelium injuring agent, also did not modify the induction of alveolar epithelium proliferative lesions. These results indicate that prior organ injury by toxic agents does not always act to enhance sensitivity to carcinogenesis.