Carcinogenic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Special Vulnerability of Rats

Abstract
Compared with other species, the rat is unusually vulnerable to polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. In the rat, relatively small amounts of carcinogenic aromatics (i) profoundly depress incorporation of thymidine in DNA, (ii) greatly induce menadione reductase in liver, and (iii) then kill the rat.