Enzyme-histochemical investigation of pancreatic carcinogenesis in male Wistar rats treated at the age of 19 days by a single dose of 30 mg azaserine/kg body wt led to the detection of a new 'marker' for the recognition of foci of atypical acinar cells: the Mg2+-dependent ATPase. The two well-known populations of pancreatic atypical acinar cell foci, classified histologically as basophilic and acidophilic foci, showed a decreased and strongly increased ATPase reaction, respectively. The enhanced enzyme activity of the acidophilic foci has been characterized as unspecific nucleoside polyphosphatase. To validate the new marker, comparative quantitative evaluation was performed on haematoxylin and eosin-stained paraffin sections and ATPase-stained cryostat sections of the same pancreata of 25 azaserine-treated rats. Evaluation of basophilic ATPase-deficient foci of small diameter was more reproducible in haematoxylin and eosin-stained sections, while small acidophilic strongly ATPase-positive foci could be detected more reliably by the ATPase staining technique. The number of foci/cm3 pancreas was similar for both staining techniques above a focus diameter of about 100 microns for basophilic foci and 200 micronfor acidophilic foci. There were more acidophilic than basophilic foci/cm3 pancreas, and the acidophilic foci had significantly larger mean focal diameters than the basophilic foci. Together with the strong acidophilic staining of the latter emerging adenoma, this suggests that the acidophilic foci represent a neoplastic cell population progressing eventually to pancreatic carcinoma. The new 'marker' enzyme ATPase may greatly facilitate further investigations into the role of these putative preneoplastic lesions in pancreatic carcinogenesis.