TRANS-PLACENTAL INDUCTION OF GONADAL TUMORS IN RATS BY A NITROSAMINE

  • 1 August 1986
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 46  (8) , 4135-4138
Abstract
Ovarian and testicular tumors were induced in the offspring (F1 generation) of MRC rats that received single or multiple doses of N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine on the 14th, 18th, and/or 20th days of pregnancy. The ovarian tumor incidence was significantly higher (46%) in the F1 generation exposed to the carcinogen a single time at the 18th day of gestation, when compared to those exposed at the 14th (P < 0.005) or 20th days (P < 0.025), and was highest in those exposed to N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine repeatedly (at the 14th through 20th days of gestation). Morphologically ovarian tumors were of a mixed stromal cell-coelomic type. Testicular tumors were of mixed Leydig cell-glandular types and occurred in a higher incidence in the F1 generation exposed to N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine at the 14th through 20th day of gestation, compared with those exposed to the carcinogen at other times of the gestation period (P < 0.0005). This is the first report of transplacental gonadal tumor induction by a nitrosamine.