Effect on hepatic ornithine decarboxylase of some food additives and synthetic elastomers

The food additives butylated hydroxytoluene, butylated hydroxyanisole and sodium cyclamate and the precursors for packaging materials acrylamide, acrylic acid, acrylonitrile and vinylpyrrolidone were investigated for their ability to induce hepatic ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) in vivo, in order to obtain indications about their possible tumour-promoting activities. It was shown that butylated hydroxyanisole, acrylonitrile, vinylpyrrolidone and acrylamide have the capacity to increase rat liver ODC activity, while butylated hydroxytoluene, acrylic acid and sodium cyclamate did not affect ODC activity.