Carcinogenicity of malachite green chloride and leucomalachite green in B6C3F1 mice and F344 rats.

Malachite green is a triphenylmethane dye used in the fish industry as an anti-fungal agent. Leucomalachite green is formed by the metabolic reduction of malachite green and persists in the tissues of exposed fish. In this study, we examined the carcinogenicity of malachite green chloride and leucomalachite green. Female F344 rats (48 per group) were fed diets containing 0, 100, 300, or 600 ppm malachite green chloride for 104 weeks, at which time the extent of tumorigenesis was assessed. Additional groups of 48 female and 48 male F344 rats were fed diets containing 0, 91, 272, or 543 ppm leucomalachite green for 104 weeks. Groups of 48 female B6C3F1 mice were fed diets containing 0, 100, 225, or 450 ppm malachite green chloride or 0, 91, 204, or 408 ppm leucomalachite green for 104 weeks. For each of the exposures, food consumption in the treatment groups was similar to the controls. Rats fed malachite green chloride or leucomalachite green had dose-dependent reductions in body weight; in mice, there were no consistent effects upon body weights with either compound. Female rats exposed to malachite green chloride had increased incidences of thyroid gland follicular cell adenoma or carcinoma and hepatocellular adenoma, and a dose-related increasing trend in mammary gland carcinoma. Female rats fed malachite green chloride and female and male rats fed leucomalachite green had a dose-related decreasing trend in the incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia. In male rats fed leucomalachite green there was a decreasing trend in pituitary gland adenoma and an increasing trend in interstitial cell adenoma of the testis. There were no treatment-related neoplasms in female B6C3F1 mice fed malachite green chloride. Female mice fed leucomalachite green had a dose-related increasing trend in the incidence of hepatocellular adenoma or carcinoma, with the incidence being significant in the highest dose group.