Chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity studies of 2-methylnaphthalene in B6C3F1 mice

The toxicity and carcinogenic potential of 2-methylnaphthalene (2-MN) were examined in B6C3F1 mice. Groups of 50 male and 50 female mice were given diets containing 0, 0.075, and 0.15% 2-MN for 81 weeks. Both 0.075 and 0.15% 2-MN caused pulmonary alveolar proteinosis at high incidence: 55.1 and 45.8% in females and 42.9 and 46.9% in males, respectively. The incidences of total lung tumors, including bronchiolar/alveolar adenomas and carcinomas, were 20.4 and 12.2% in male mice given 0.075 and 0.15% 2-MN, respectively, the former value being significantly increased compared with the 4. 1% in control males. However, in the respective incidences of the adenomas and carcinomas, neither intergroup differences nor dose dependencies were observed. The incidences of other tumors did not differ between mice treated with 2-MN and the controls. The results indicated that 2-MN induces pulmonary alveolar proteinosis but does not possess unequivocal carcinogenic potential in B6C3F1 mice.