Carcinogenicity of low doses of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea in F344 rats; a dose-response study

The threshold level of minimum carcinogenic dose of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) and the effect of dose on organ specificity were examined by continuous oral administration to both sexes of F344 rats of low doses of ENU at four concentrations (0.3, 1, 3 and 10 ppm) in the drinking water. ENU at 10 ppm selectively induced neurogenic tumors and tumors of the digestive tract, including duodenal tumors. Even at lower doses it enhanced the spontaneous development of some other tumors. A high dose of ENU (400 ppm) was previously found to induce duodenal tumors selectively. These results indicate that the organ specificity of ENU is influenced by the dose and that ENU has multi-potent carcinogenic activity in many organs and/or tissues. In this study, some specific tumors, such as those of the nervous system and digestive tract, seemed to require a minimum carcinogenic level of ENU (10 ppm) for their appearance. However, it seems that ENU is carcinogenic at much lower dose levels than 10 ppm because ENU enhanced the spontaneous development of some other tumors in many experimental groups. The so-called virtually safe doses inducing these specific tumors at a risk level of 10(-6) were calculated.