Alteration of hepatocytes by subcarcinogenic exposure to n-2-fluorenylacetamide.

These experiments examined the effects of a single, subcarcinogenic dose of dimethylnitrosamine or N-hydroxyfluorenylacetamide when administered after a subcarcinogenic dietary regimen of N-2-fluorenylacetamide. Control rats that received either carcinogen diet alone or a single dose of carcinogen demonstrated neither hepatic nodules nor hepatocellular carcinomas. Those animals that received dimethylnitrosamine subsequent to carcinogen diet demonstrated many persistent hepatic nodules and 100% hepato-cellular carcinomas. These data support the concept that the nodules produced by subcarcinogenic ingestion of N-2-fluorenylacetamide are not composed simply of normal hepatocytes undergoing compensatory regeneration but consist of cells that have been altered by the carcinogen. One manifestation of this alteration is an increased susceptibility to further carcinogenic evolution.