The Carcinogenic Potency Project

Methylene chloride (CAS 75-09-2)
SMILES, InChI and Structure are below.
Rats and Mice: Cancer Test Summary
Rat Target Sites Mouse Target Sites TD50 (mg/kg/day)
Male Female Male Female Rat Mouse
mgl mgl liv lun liv lun 724m 1100m

Key to the Table Above

Positivity: For each chemical with a positive (carcinogenic) experiment in the Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB), results are included on carcinogenic potency (TD50) in each species and target sites in males and females. Positivity is determined by an author’s opinion in a published paper. If all experimental results in the CDPB are negative in a sex-species group, “no positive” appears. If the CPDB has no experiments in the sex-species group, “no test” appears. The summary presents the strongest evidence of carcinogenicity in each group. If there are both positive and negative experiments in a sex-species, the negative results are ignored in this Summary Table.
Target Site Codes:   liv = liver. lun = lung. mgl = mammary gland. Target sites are listed if any author of published experimental results concluded that tumors were induced in that organ by the test agent. If there is more than one positive experiment in a sex-species, target sites listed may be from more than one experiment, e.g. if liver and lung are both listed, then liver may have been a target in one experiment and lung in another.
TD50: Our standardized measure of carcinogenic potency, TD50, is the daily dose rate in mg/kg body weight/day to induce tumors in half of test animals that would have remained tumor-free at zero dose. Whenever there is more than one positive experiment in a species, the reported TD50 value is a Harmonic Mean calculated using the TD50 value from the most potent target site in each positive experiment.
Superscripts:   m = There is more than one positive experiment in the species, and TD50 values from each positive experiment are used in the calculation of the reported Harmonic mean of TD50.

The Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB) is a unique and widely used international resource of the results of 6540 chronic, long-term animal cancer tests on 1547 chemicals. The CPDB provides easy access to the bioassay literature, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of both positive and negative experiments that have been published over the past 50 years in the general literature through 2001 and by the National Cancer Institute/National Toxicology Program through 2004. The CPDB standardizes the diverse literature of cancer bioassays that vary widely in protocol, histopathological examination and nomenclature, and in the published author’s choices of what information to provide in their papers. Results are reported in the CPDB for tests in rats, mice, hamsters, dogs, and nonhuman primates.

For each experiment, information is included on species, strain, and sex of test animal; features of experimental protocol such as route of administration, duration of dosing, dose level(s) in mg/kg body weight/day, and duration of experiment; experimental results are provided on target organ, tumor type, and tumor incidence; carcinogenic potency (TD50) and its statistical significance; shape of the dose-response, author’s opinion as to carcinogenicity, and literature citation.

Only tests with dosing for at least ¼ the standard lifespan of the species and experiment length at least ½ the lifespan are included in the CPDB. Only routes of administration with whole body exposure are included. Doses are standardized, average dose rates in mg/kg/day. A description of methods used in the CPDB to standardize the diverse literature of animal cancer tests is presented for: 1) Criteria for inclusion of experiments 2) Standardization of average daily dose levels and 3) TD50 estimation for a standard lifespan. See Methods for other details.

TD50 provides a standardized quantitative measure that can be used for comparisons and analyses of many issues in carcinogenesis. The range of TD50 values across chemicals that are rodent carcinogens is more than 100 million-fold. More than half the chemicals tested are positive in at least one experiment.

A plot of all results on each experiment in the CPDB for this chemical is presented below. These results are the source information for the Cancer Test Summary table above.

Methylene chloride: All Experiments and Citations in CPDB

The definition of each code in the plot below will appear in a pop-up window when the field name in the header line is clicked, e.g., Strain, Site, Path. Each numbered line starts a new experiment and reports protocol information in black. Average daily dose-rates per kg body weight per day are in green. Remaining lines report experimental results in blue.

Abbreviations of fields in header line: # = the line number in the plot of all CPDB chemicals; Xpo = duration of dosing; Xpt = duration of experiment; Site = tissue; Path = tumor type; DR = dose-response; AuOp = author’s opinion about carcinogenicity; LoConf, UpConf = confidence limits (99%) on TD50; Inc = tumor incidence for each dose group.

See Guide to reading the plot for details on each field, using an example of one experiment.

See Help to improve readability, or to fit the plot onto the screen or a printed page.



Chemical (Synonym) CAS
# Species Sex Strain Route Xpo+Xpt PaperNum        0 Dose  1 Dose 2 Dose  3 Dose          Literature Reference or NCI/NTP:Site Path
Site Path Notes   TD50  DR Pval    AuOp LoConf UpConf   Cntrl   1 Inc  2 Inc   3 Inc                                                        Brkly Code

METHYLENE CHLORIDE (dichloromethane, Freon 30) 75-09-2 3913 M f b6c inh 24m24 TR306 : 0 2.14gm 4.28gm MXB MXB 817.mg * P<.0005 568.mg 1.28gm 5/50 36/50 46/50 liv:hpa,hpc; lun:a/a,a/c. C lun MXA 917.mg * P<.0005 c 635.mg 1.43gm 3/50 30/50 41/50 lun:a/a,a/c. lun a/a 1.42gm * P<.0005 c 938.mg 2.39gm 2/50 23/50 28/50 liv MXA 1.43gm / P<.0005 c 956.mg 2.31gm 3/50 16/50 40/50 liv:hpa,hpc. lun a/c 1.69gm / P<.0005 c 1.10gm 2.81gm 1/50 13/50 29/50 liv hpc 1.85gm / P<.0005 c 1.20gm 3.04gm 1/50 11/50 32/50 liv hpa 3.17gm / P<.0005 c 1.85gm 6.50gm 2/50 6/50 22/50 thy fca 15.8gm * P<.05 5.11gm n.s.s. 1/50 1/50 4/50 S TBA MXB 1.02gm * P<.0005 652.mg 1.93gm 18/50 41/50 47/50 liv MXB 1.43gm / P<.0005 956.mg 2.31gm 3/50 16/50 40/50 liv:hpa,hpc,nnd. lun MXB 917.mg * P<.0005 635.mg 1.43gm 3/50 30/50 41/50 lun:a/a,a/c. 3914 M f b6c inh 6m24 2117m 0 546.mg Kari;carc,14,819-826;1993 lun mix er 1.28gm P<.0005 + 676.mg 4.60gm 5/67 21/68 lun car er 1.65gm P<.003 820.mg 8.84gm 4/67 17/68 liv mix er 1.84gm P<.1 681.mg n.s.s. 18/67 27/67 liv hpa er 2.57gm P<.07 978.mg n.s.s. 8/67 16/67 lun ade er 3.40gm P<.02 1.41gm n.s.s. 1/67 8/68 liv hpc er 6.79gm P<.6 1.30gm n.s.s. 11/67 14/67 3915 M f b6c inh 12m24 2117n 0 1.09gm lun mix er 804.mg P<.0005 + 521.mg 1.37gm 5/67 40/63 lun car er 952.mg P<.0005 609.mg 1.66gm 4/67 36/63 lun ade er 3.81gm P<.0005 1.88gm 13.1gm 1/67 12/63 liv mix er 2.85gm P<.05 + 1.18gm n.s.s. 18/67 28/64 liv hpc er 4.96gm P<.2 1.77gm n.s.s. 11/67 18/64 liv hpa er 6.25gm P<.2 2.12gm n.s.s. 8/67 14/64 3916 M f b6c inh 18m24 2117o 0 1.64gm lun mix er 1.52gm P<.0005 + 971.mg 2.68gm 5/67 38/68 liv mix er 1.73gm P<.0005 + 986.mg 4.73gm 18/67 42/68 liv hpa er 2.78gm P<.0005 1.54gm 8.13gm 8/67 28/68 lun car er 2.83gm P<.0005 1.63gm 6.56gm 4/67 25/68 lun ade er 3.59gm P<.0005 2.04gm 7.83gm 1/67 19/68 liv hpc er 4.02gm P<.008 1.92gm 87.8gm 11/67 25/68 3917 M f b6c inh 24m24 2117r 0 2.18gm lun mix er 1.65gm P<.0005 + 1.08gm 2.77gm 5/67 42/67 liv mix er 1.74gm P<.0005 + 1.05gm 3.74gm 18/67 47/68 lun a/c er 2.67gm P<.0005 1.65gm 5.13gm 4/67 31/67 liv hpc er 2.75gm P<.0005 1.60gm 6.83gm 11/67 35/68 liv hpa er 4.86gm P<.002 2.50gm 23.3gm 8/67 24/68 lun a/a er 5.02gm P<.0005 2.81gm 11.3gm 1/67 18/67 3918 M m b6c inh 24m24 TR306 : 0 1.79gm 3.57gm lun MXA 920.mg * P<.0005 c 630.mg 1.46gm 5/50 27/50 40/50 lun:a/a,a/c. MXB MXB 1.09gm * P<.0005 672.mg 2.27gm 27/50 35/50 45/50 liv:hpa,hpc; lun:a/a,a/c. C lun a/a 1.68gm * P<.0005 c 1.08gm 2.98gm 3/50 19/50 24/50 lun a/c 1.71gm / P<.0005 c 1.09gm 2.95gm 2/50 10/50 28/50 liv MXA 1.80gm * P<.0005 c 1.01gm 4.99gm 22/50 24/50 33/50 liv:hpa,hpc. liv hpc 2.69gm * P<.0005 c 1.49gm 7.70gm 13/50 15/50 26/50 liv hpa 3.48gm * P<.003 c 1.68gm 23.5gm 10/50 14/50 14/50 --- hes 12.9gm * P<.02 4.78gm n.s.s. 1/50 2/50 5/50 S --- MXA 13.2gm * P<.03 4.82gm n.s.s. 2/50 2/50 6/50 ---:hem,hes. S TBA MXB 1.16gm * P<.0005 688.mg 2.76gm 34/50 37/50 46/50 liv MXB 1.80gm * P<.0005 1.01gm 4.99gm 22/50 24/50 33/50 liv:hpa,hpc,nnd. lun MXB 920.mg * P<.0005 630.mg 1.46gm 5/50 27/50 40/50 lun:a/a,a/c. 3919 M m b6c wat 24m24 1802 0 60.0mg 125.mg 185.mg 250.mg Serota;fctx,24,959-963;1986 liv mix e 1.31gm * P<.07 - 540.mg n.s.s. 24/125 51/200 30/100 31/99 35/125 liv hpc e 2.35gm * P<.2 - 815.mg n.s.s. 14/125 33/200 18/100 17/99 23/125 liv hpa e 2.90gm * P<.2 - 1.01gm n.s.s. 10/125 20/200 14/100 14/99 15/125 thy tum e no dre P=1. - 825.mg n.s.s. 0/125 0/200 0/100 0/99 0/125 3920 M f swi gav 15m24 BT3003 0 39.6mg 198.mg Maltoni;anya,534,352-366;1988 lun ade s 7.05gm * P<.9 502.mg n.s.s. 10/60 8/50 9/50 liv hpt s no dre P=1. 340.mg n.s.s. 0/60 0/50 0/50 tba mal s no dre P=1. 586.mg n.s.s. 15/60 8/50 10/50 tba mix s no dre P=1. 427.mg n.s.s. 31/60 17/50 20/50 3921 M m swi gav 15m24 BT3003 0 39.6mg 198.mg lun ade s 916.mg * P<.05 345.mg n.s.s. 3/60 6/50 9/50 liv hpt s no dre P=1. 1.27gm n.s.s. 5/60 2/50 2/50 tba mal s no dre P=1. 1.18gm n.s.s. 12/60 4/50 4/50 tba mix s no dre P=1. 477.mg n.s.s. 18/60 10/50 13/50 3922 R f f34 inh 24m24 TR306 : 0 255.mg 510.mg 1.02gm mgl MXA 598.mg * P<.0005 c 361.mg 1.36gm 5/50 11/50 13/50 23/50 mgl:adn,fba. mgl MXA 630.mg * P<.0005 371.mg 1.57gm 6/50 13/50 14/50 23/50 mgl:acn,adn,fba. S mgl fba 632.mg * P<.0005 c 378.mg 1.49gm 5/50 11/50 13/50 22/50 mgl MXA 670.mg * P<.0005 385.mg 1.80gm 7/50 13/50 14/50 23/50 mgl:acn,adn,fba,mtm. S --- mnl 1.28gm * P<.02 578.mg n.s.s. 17/50 17/50 23/50 23/50 S liv MXA 4.27gm * P<.05 1.56gm n.s.s. 2/50 1/50 4/50 5/50 liv:hpc,nnd. S TBA MXB 501.mg * P<.007 244.mg 8.34gm 41/50 46/50 48/50 48/50 liv MXB 4.27gm * P<.05 1.56gm n.s.s. 2/50 1/50 4/50 5/50 liv:hpa,hpc,nnd. 3923 R f f34 wat 78w78 1801m 0 5.00mg 50.0mg 125.mg 250.mg Serota;fctx,24,951-958;1986 liv nnd ek no dre P=1. - 9.99mg n.s.s. 0/20 0/20 0/20 0/20 0/20 3924 R f f34 wat 18m24 1801n 0 188.mg liv mix e 1.54gm P<.02 - 379.mg n.s.s. 0/100 2/25 liv nnd e 1.54gm P<.02 - 379.mg n.s.s. 0/100 2/25 liv hpc e no dre P=1. - 966.mg n.s.s. 0/100 0/25 3925 R f f34 wat 24m24 1801o 0 5.00mg 50.0mg 125.mg 250.mg liv mix e 1.43gm * P<.003 - 638.mg 10.1gm 0/100 1/50 4/50 1/50 6/50 liv nnd e 2.34gm * P<.02 - 880.mg n.s.s. 0/100 1/50 2/50 1/50 4/50 liv hpc e 3.63gm * P<.06 - 1.25gm n.s.s. 0/100 0/50 2/50 0/50 2/50 3926 R m f34 inh 24m24 TR306 : 0 179.mg 357.mg 714.mg MXA MXA 917.mg * P<.0005 p 477.mg 2.17gm 0/50 1/50 4/50 9/50 mgl:adn,fba; sub:fib. MXA MXA 1.44gm * P<.006 686.mg 16.1gm 0/50 2/50 5/50 4/50 mul:men,msm; tnv:men,msm. S mgl MXA 1.64gm * P<.002 p 693.mg 7.00gm 0/50 0/50 2/50 5/50 mgl:adn,fba. tnv MXA 1.64gm * P<.005 739.mg 12.2gm 0/50 1/50 4/50 4/50 tnv:men,msm. S mgl fba 1.77gm * P<.004 p 716.mg 11.2gm 0/50 0/50 2/50 4/50 sub MXA 1.99gm * P<.003 853.mg 11.1gm 0/50 1/50 2/50 5/50 sub:fib,srn. S sub fib 2.18gm * P<.007 892.mg 28.3gm 0/50 1/50 2/50 4/50 S tnv msm 4.31gm * P<.04 1.34gm n.s.s. 0/50 1/50 0/50 3/50 S TBA MXB 539.mg * P<.2 186.mg n.s.s. 46/50 48/50 49/50 48/50 liv MXB no dre P=1. 1.43gm n.s.s. 2/50 2/50 4/50 1/50 liv:hpa,hpc,nnd. 3927 R m f34 wat 78w78 1801m 0 5.00mg 50.0mg 125.mg 250.mg Serota;fctx,24,951-958;1986 liv nnd ek no dre P=1. - 489.mg n.s.s. 0/20 1/20 2/20 1/20 0/20 3928 R m f34 wat 18m24 1801n 0 188.mg liv nnd e 1.61gm P<.4 - 307.mg n.s.s. 9/100 4/25 liv mix e 3.66gm P<.8 - 341.mg n.s.s. 13/100 4/25 liv hpc e no dre P=1. - 966.mg n.s.s. 4/100 0/25 3929 R m f34 wat 24m24 1801o 0 5.00mg 50.0mg 125.mg 250.mg liv mix e no dre P=1. - 2.41gm n.s.s. 13/100 1/50 1/50 2/50 2/50 liv nnd e no dre P=1. - 2.58gm n.s.s. 9/100 1/50 1/50 2/50 1/50 liv hpc e no dre P=1. - 3.01gm n.s.s. 4/100 0/50 0/50 0/50 1/50 3930 R f sda gav 15m24 BT3002 0 39.6mg 198.mg Maltoni;anya,534,352-366;1988 mam mal s 1.13gm * P<.07 403.mg n.s.s. 4/50 3/50 9/50 mam mix s 1.03gm * P<.7 151.mg n.s.s. 28/50 37/50 33/50 tba mal s 1.74gm * P<.6 320.mg n.s.s. 14/50 12/50 16/50 tba mix s no dre P=1. 141.mg n.s.s. 39/50 41/50 39/50 3931 R f sda inh 24m24 BT4005 0 29.4mg mam mix gv 37.8mg P<.009 17.7mg 1.23gm 24/60 35/54 tba mix gv 32.1mg P<.03 13.6mg n.s.s. 35/60 42/54 tba mal gv 477.mg P<.7 70.6mg n.s.s. 9/60 10/54 3932 R m sda gav 15m24 BT3002 0 39.6mg 198.mg tba mix s no dre P=1. 47.0mg n.s.s. 37/50 33/50 (22/50) tba mal s 935.mg \ P<.9 68.6mg n.s.s. 15/50 16/50 (6/50) 3933 R f sss inh 24m24 1600 0 130.mg 390.mg 910.mg Burek;faat,4,30-47;1984/pers.comm. mgl ben e 4.43gm * P<.7 627.mg n.s.s. 79/96 81/95 80/96 83/97 pit ade e no dre P=1. 1.25gm n.s.s. 34/96 24/95 30/96 (16/97) 3934 R f sss inh 24m24 1890m 0 13.0mg 52.0mg 130.mg Nitschke;faat,11,48-59;1988/pers.comm. mgl fba e 631.mg * P<.7 84.1mg n.s.s. 51/69 57/69 60/69 55/69 mgl ben e 1.55gm * P<.9 93.8mg n.s.s. 52/70 58/70 61/70 55/70 liv kcs e 9.34gm * P<.8 - 1.52gm n.s.s. 0/70 0/70 1/70 0/70 liv hpc e 9.52gm * P<.7 - 1.09gm n.s.s. 1/70 0/70 2/70 1/70 liv nnd e no dre P=1. - 813.mg n.s.s. 4/70 4/70 3/70 4/70 mgl adc e no dre P=1. - 859.mg n.s.s. 3/69 5/69 4/69 3/69 3935 R f sss inh 12m24 1890n 0 65.0mg mgl fba e 37.7mg P<.05 11.8mg n.s.s. 51/69 23/25 mgl ben e 38.1mg P<.05 11.9mg n.s.s. 52/70 23/25 mgl adc e 1.14gm P<.6 - 149.mg n.s.s. 3/69 2/25 liv nnd e no dre P=1. - 220.mg n.s.s. 4/70 1/25 liv hpc e no dre P=1. - 335.mg n.s.s. 1/70 0/25 3936 R m sss inh 24m24 1600 0 91.0mg 273.mg 637.mg Burek;faat,4,30-47;1984/pers.comm. slg mix e 4.26gm * P<.0005 2.28gm 12.1gm 1/92 0/95 5/95 11/97 mgl ben e 5.08gm * P<.03 2.17gm n.s.s. 7/92 3/95 7/95 14/97 3937 R m sss inh 86w86 1890m 0 9.10mg 36.4mg 91.0mg Nitschke;faat,11,48-59;1988/pers.comm. liv tum e no dre P=1. - 66.5mg n.s.s. 0/70 0/70 0/70 0/70

Mutagenicity in Salmonella: positive
SMILES Code for Methylene chloride: ClCCl
InChI Code for Methylene chloride: InChI=1/CH2Cl2/c2-1-3/h1H2
Source for SMILES and InChI: USEPA Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database
Chemical Structure for Methylene chloride: Chemical Structure
Source for structure: National Library of Medicine ChemIDPlus

See full CPDB Summary Table on 1547 chemicals. See Full CPDB for all results on 6540 experiments of 1547 chemicals.

A complete list of CPDB chemicals, which is searchable by name or by CAS number, is available here.

For a compendium of CPDB results organized by target organ, which lists all chemicals in each species that induced tumors in each of 35 organs, see Summary Table by Target Organ.

The CPDB is available in several formats that permit printing and downloading into spreadsheets and statistical databases.

  1. A plot of the CPDB presents results of 1547 experiments on 6540 chemicals in an easily readable format that has been used in publications of the CPDB.
  2. A Screen version plot for use on a single computer screen, with the same data.
  3. Excel version of the same data.
  4. Tab-separated versions of the same data, which can be easily read into databases.

A Supplementary Dataset gives details on dosing and survival for each experiment.

Relatively precise estimates of the lower confidence limit on the TD10 (LTD10) are readily calculated from the TD50 and its lower confidence limit, which are reported in the CPDB. For researchers and regulatory agencies interested in LTD10 values, we provide them in an Excel spreadsheet.

PDF versions of our publications of analyses using the CPDB are available, organized by year and by research topic.


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Last updated: October 3, 2007