Diethylnitrosamine and acetoxymethyl methylnitrosamine-induced carcinogenesis in mice and vitamin A deficiency.

The modulating influence of vitamin A deficiency on carcinogenesis induced by two potent carcinogens, diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and acetoxymethyl methylnitrosamine (AMMN), was studied in BALB/c mice. DEN was administered intragastrically every 30 days at a total dose of 200 mg/kg body weight, split into four doses. AMMN was applied continuously every 14 days on the tongue, at a dose of 2 mg/kg body weight. AMMN and DEN treated animals fed the vitamin A deficient diet had a significantly higher tumor incidence that mice fed the normal diet (p less than 0.05). Studies on the levels of vitamins A, C, B2 and folic acid in the liver and plasma of mice treated with the two carcinogens revealed that both the carcinogens increased vitamin C in both tissues, decreased folic acid and had no effect on vitamin A, while hepatic vitamin B2 was lowered by treatment with AMMN by not by DEN.