Concanavalin A agglutination of bladder cells of rats treated with bladder carcinogens; a rapid new test to detect bladder carcinogens.

N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN), which is a potent, specific bladder carcinogen in rats, and its related compounds were orally administered to rats for 1 week. The bladder cells were isolated by the treatment with EDTA and sonication and they were subjected to agglutination assay by concanavalin A (Con A). Bladder cells obtained from rats treated with BBN, N-butyl-N-(3-carboxypropyl)nitrosamine (BCPN), N-ethyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (EHBN) and N-butyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)nitrosamine (BHEN) were agglutination-positive, while those cells treated with N-tert-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)-nitrosamine (t-BBH) and N-butyl-N-(3-hydroxypropyl)nitrosamine (BHPN) were negative. Results obtained by this method were highly correlated with the known carcinogenicity of BBN and its analogues. Therefore, this method could be used for rapid screening of bladder carcinogens.