The nuclease P1 modification of the 32P-postlabeling technique was used to study the biological activity of 7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazole (DBC) and some of its derivatives, including N-methyldibenzo[c,g]carbazole (N-MeDBC), 5,9-dimethyldibenzo[c,g]carbazole (5,9-diMeDBC), 5,9,N-trimethyldibenzo[c,g]carbazole (5,9,N-triMeDBC), 6-methoxydibenzo[c,g]carbazole (6-McODBC), N-acetyldibenzo[c,g]carbazole (N-AcDBC), N-hydroxymethyldibenzo[c,g]carbazole (N-HMeDBC) in primary mouse embryo cells. A very good correlation was found between carcinogenic specificity in vivo of these N-heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their DNA-adduction in vitro. Primary mouse embryo cells were able to metabolize and detect tissue-specific sarcomagens N-MeDBC and 6-MeODBC as well as derivatives with both sarcomagenic and hepatocarcinogenic activity, DBC, N-AcDBC, and N-HMeDBC. The strong specific hepatocarcinogen 5,9-diMeDBC in vivo, did not induce any DNA-adducts in the embryo cells, which suggests that the enzymatic composition of the target tissue probably is the determining factor in the organ specificity of this derivative. 5,9,N-triMeDBC, derivative without any carcinogenic activity in vivo, did not induce any DNA-adducts in primary mouse embryo cells. Pretreatment of cells with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) apparently stimulated DNA-adduct formation in the cells exposed to DBC, 6-MeODBC, and N-MeDBC. No or a very slight effect of TCDD on DNA-adduct formation was found in cells exposed to N-HMeDBC and N-AcDBC. Preliminary results have shown that TCDD slightly induced cytochrome P4501A1-linked ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity in primary mouse embryo cells. These data suggest the role of cytochrome P4501A1 in the metabolism of DBC derivatives with sarcomagenic activity.