FURTHER-STUDIES ON NORMAL-NITROSOPYRROLIDINE AND ITS PRECURSORS - EFFECTS OF ASCORBIC-ACID AND VITAMIN-E ON TUMOR-DEVELOPMENT IN MICE AS RELATED TO CONSUMPTION OF CURED MEAT

Two experiments were carried out to ascertain if supplementation of a semi-purified diet to Swiss-ICR mice with either ascorbic acid (AA), vitamin E (Vit E) or a combination of the two would modulate the carcinogenic effects of N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPyr) and of its probable precursors (nitrite-NO2 and pyrrolidine-Pyr) in Experiment I or of NPyr in Experiment II. Results indicated that neither AA nor Vit E modulated the carcinogenic effects of NPyr or of its probable precursors (NO2 and Pyr). Results verified a previous report from our laboratory showing that NPyr increased the number of malignant tumors by some 5-8 fold over controls. There was a lower incidence of tumors in the control group on the semi-purified diet than in the groups given NO2 and Pyr, although both treatments had a low frequency of malignant tumors (1/63 versus 5/72 survivors). Results support our earlier study suggesting that neither NO2 nor Pyr alone or in combination together contribute to cancer-at least in the laboratory mouse.