Lesions of the urinary tract produced in Fischer 344 rats and B6C3F1 mice after chronic administration of 11-aminoundecanoic acid.

11-Aminoundecanoic acid, the monomer of nylon 11, was toxic to the urinary tract of both male and female B6C3F1 mice and Fischer 344 rats, when administered in the diet at 7500 or 15 000 ppm for 103-104 weeks. Dose-related effects included a decrease in mean body weight gain and in survival for male rats and for mice of each sex; increased incidence of hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium of the kidney in rats of each sex; increased incidence of calcification of the kidney in the female rats; increased incidence of hyperplasia of the urinary bladder in male rats; and mineralization of the kidney in mice of each sex. Transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder of the male rat occurred with increased frequency in the high-dose group (control, 0/48; low-dose, 0/48; high-dose, 7/49). Additional evidence for carcinogenicity in the male rat was seen in the liver, where an increased frequency of neoplastic nodules was found in the treated animals (controls, 1/50; low-dose, 9/50; high-dose, 8/50). Therefore, under the conditions of these studies, 11-aminoundecanoic acid was carcinogenic for male Fischer 344 rats, inducing transitional cell carcinomas in the urinary bladder and neoplastic nodules in the liver. The test chemical was not demonstrated to be carcinogenic for female Fischer 344 rats or for B6C3F1 mice of either sex.