Sequential histological and histochemical study of the rat liver during aflatoxin B1-induced carcinogenesis

Male Wistar rats were given 50 mug of aflatoxin B1 twice a week for 4 weeks, and thereafter 75 mug twice a week for 10 weeks. Their livers were investigated histologically and histochemically for glycogen, RNA, fat, alkaline and acid phosphatases, adenosine triphosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase, glucose-6-phosphatase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, succinic dehydrogenase, and alkaline and acid nucleases. No significant lesions occurred before 15 weeks. During this period, the liver was histochemically unchanged except for a periportal decrease of alkaline phosphatase and adenosine triphosphatase. Scattered hepatocytes with a strong glucose-6-phosphatase activity appeared. These changes represent toxic effects of aflatoxin B1 and are irrelevant to carcinogenesis. From 15 weeks onward, three types of liver cell hyperplastic foci and nodules developed. Histologically, and with respect to glycogen, fat, and RNA content, only two of these types were considered as potential precursors of hepatocarcinomas. However, all types exhibited a decrease or absence of the enzymes studied. Both histological and histochemical changes stressed the complex heterogeneity existing between and within hepatic foci and nodules. From 11 months on, hepatocarcinomas developed. The tumors disclosed similar histochemical changes. This similarity further supports the "precarcinomatous" nature of hyperplastic foci and nodules. It appears that focal changes in surface as well as in cytoplasmic and nuclear enzymes are intimately and very early linked to the carcinogenic process. Whether they are fundamental or only represent an epiphenomenon remains unclear.