Urethan Ethyl Carbamate

Berenblum, I. et al. (1959) Skin initiating action and lung carcinogeneeis by derivative of urethane (ethyl carbamate) and related compounds. Biochem. Pharmacol., 2, 168—176. 

O-CHLOROTOLUENE Ethylene glycol Urethane (Ethyl carbamate) (m.p. 50)... 

With the exception of urethane (ethyl carbamate), a potent mutagen and established carcinogen In laboratory animals (144,145), carbamate compounds have been largely unstudied. 

Schmiedberg (1886) first reported that urethane (ethyl carbamate) produces rapid and deep narcosis in dogs. (The drug was subsequently used as a veterinary anesthetic.) More alkyl esters were soon introduced as hypnotics or anesthetics. For example, hedonal, which is more active than urethane, was introduced by Dreser7 (1899) as a fixed anesthetic for intravenous use. Figure 12-10, illustrates some early compounds, such as urethane and hedonal, which are only of historical interest, along with several others that, while still available, are rarely used in the United States. 

Urethane (ethyl carbamate) is found in low levels in some foods (25-29). The compound is reported to induce lung cancer. DeFlora et al. (25) showed that the incidence of lung tumors in mice fed urethanes as part of a standard diet reached 94.1%. Feeding N-acetylcysteine 15 days before and 4 months after injection of the carcinogen drastically and significantly reduced the tumor incidence to 58.7%. The spontaneous tumor rate in untreated animals was 27.8%. 

White Wistar rats (160g-500g, average 250g) were anaesthetized with 25% w/v urethane (ethyl carbamate, Poole, Dorset) at... 

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