No data were available to the Working Group. N-Dimethylaniline was tested for carcinogenicity in one study in mice and in one study in rats by gavage. It increased the incidence of forestomach papillomas in female mice. A few splenic sarcomas were observed in treated male rats. The metabolism of N,N-dimethylaniline has been studied in many species and in human tissues.
Aniline is a major metabolite.
Chronic methaemoglobinaemia and erythrocyte haemolysis, with concomitant splenomegaly and other pathological lesions characteristic of aniline, were observed in mice and rats treated with N,N-dimethylaniline. N-Dimethylaniline did not induce gene mutation in bacteria or DNA damage in cultured mammalian cells. It induced gene mutation, sister chromatid exchange and chromosomal aberrations in cultured mammalian cells. There is inadequate evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of N,N-dimethylaniline. There is limited evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of N,N-dimethylaniline.