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Tumorigenicity of minute dose levels of N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine of Gyromitra esculenta

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Abstract

Separate administrations of 0.0005 to 0.00025% N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine in drinking water to 6-week-old randomly bred Swiss mice for the remainder of their lifetime induced lung neoplasms. At the high dose level, 64% of the females and 48% of the males developed lung tumors, while the corresponding tumor incidences at the lower dose level were 62% in the females and 54% in the males. In untreated controls, the lung tumor incidences were 29% in the females and 19% in the males. Histopathologically, the lesions were classified as adenomas and adenocarcinomas of the lungs.

N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine is a stable constituent of the edible false morel mushroom Gyromitra esculenta. The environmental significance is discussed, in view of the carcinogenicity of minute doses of this chemical.

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Toth, B., Patil, K. Tumorigenicity of minute dose levels of N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine of Gyromitra esculenta . Mycopathologia 78, 11–16 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00436576

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