Nitrosamines: Toxicology and Microbiology

Interest in the role of N-nitroso compounds in human cancer has magnified due to the widespread use of these compounds in all branches of carcinogenesis research. Here, a knowledge of the chemistry of N-nitrosation is necessary in order to understand the association between N-nitrosamines and human disease. This book opens with a discussion of the problems associated with the analysis of volatile N-nitrosamines, of the various groups of non-volatile N-nitroso compounds and of the apparent total N-nitroso compounds. This is followed by chapters on the chemistry of N-nitroso compounds and of N-nitrosation, on the mechanisms of the endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds and on the occurrence of N-nitroso-amines and their precursors in the human environment. The next chapter reviews the toxico- logy of N-nitroso compounds in animals or in vitro assay systems considering acute and chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity and teratogenicity of N-nitroso-peptides and N-nitroso bile acids. The penultimate chapter deals with the evidence implicating N- nitroso compounds in human cancer, particularly of the stomach and urinary bladder but also of other sites. The final chapter is concerned with prospects for the future, particularly of N- nitroso compounds and human cancer.Hill, M. J. is the author of 'Nitrosamines: Toxicology and Microbiology', published 1988 under ISBN 9783527267088 and ISBN 3527267085.