Comparative metabolism of 2,6-dimethylnitrosomorpholine in rats, hamsters, and guinea pigs.

The metabolism of N-[3,5-3H]nitroso-2,6-dimethylmorpholine (NDMM) was studied in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Syrian golden hamsters, and guinea pigs. NDMM induces tumors in the esophagus in rats, pancreatic cancer in hamsters, and hemangioendothelial tumors of the liver in guinea pigs. An intragastric dose of NDMM (2 mg, 2 muCi/animal) was rapidly distributed throughout the tissues of both the rat and hamster, with no apparent accumulation of radioactivity in any one tissue. At low dose levels, NDMM was metabolized rapidly by both species. The hamster appeared to metabolize the compound faster than did the rat or guinea pig. At appreciable amount of radioactivity was excreted in the urine in all three species after 8 hr: approximately 54% in the hamster, 39% in the rat; and 30% in the guinea pig. During the first 24 hr, only a small percentage of the radioactivity excreted by the hamster, rat, and guinea pig was NDMM (0.8, 2, and 0.5%, respectively). High-pressure liquid chromatography analysis of urine collected 24 hr after administration revealed 12 metabolites. Although the urinary metabolites appeared to be similar in all three species, one large difference was the presence of a major urinary metabolite in hamster urine, which was absent or present in only small quantities in the rat and guinea pig. The guinea pig urine also had relatively more radioactivity present in one major fraction than did the hamster or rat.