Mechanism of mouse skin tumor promotion by n-dodecane.

Application of the alkane n-dodecane to the dorsal skin of 6-8 week old female SENCAR mice initiated with 10 nmol dimethylbenz[a]anthracene led to papilloma formation in the majority of treated animals. Compared to the potent phorbol diester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), n-dodecane was several orders of magnitude less potent on a dose basis, and maximal papilloma response required more extended application (22 weeks for 50 mg dodecane compared to 12 weeks for 2 micrograms TPA). In two-stage promotion experiments n-dodecane appeared to act as a stage II promoting agent at appropriate doses, being comparable in activity to mezerein--an agent with well-characterized activity of this type. Dodecane, unlike mezerein, did not induce the formation of a significant number of pyknotic cells, however, suggesting that the weak promoting activity of dodecane in stage 1 was not a result of toxicity. In comparison with TPA, both mezerein and n-dodecane at promoting doses induced less sustained hyperplasia in SENCAR mouse skin, a finding also consistent with the proposal that n-dodecane is principally active in stage II of two-stage promotion models. Both agents induced ornithine decarboxylase activity in SENCAR mouse skin, the maximal induction being observed at apparently the same time after a single application.