| Abstract
| - Male Leeds strain rats were fed a diet containing either 0.06% 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (3'-MeDAB) or an equimolar level of the non-carcinogenic azo dye, 3'-methyl-4-diethylaminoazobenzene (3'-MeDEAB), for up to 26 weeks. The hepatic tissues were studied by electron microscopy. In contrast to 3'-MeDAB, which induced an early dispersal and reduction of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in hepatocytes together with nucleolar segregation, proliferation of the smooth ER, mitochondrial abnormalities, bile canalicular dilatation, Golgi atrophy and increased numbers of lysosomes, the effects of 3'-MeDEAB were largely confined to a proliferation of smooth ER. In the light of earlier studies on carcinogen/non-carcinogen pairs of chemicals, the present results appear to support the view that the rough ER lesion may be specific to the action of hepatocarcinogens.
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