Enzyme biochemical and histochemical assays during chemical carcinogenesis in rat liver have revealed that several adult enzyme activities are lost and some fetal enzyme activities are re-expressed in the hyperplastic foci as well as in the developed hepatomas. How these enzyme alterations are acquired and to what extent these changes are specifically related to the growth alterations leading to neoplastic development are decisive questions. Using a carcinogenesis protocol that combines a single dose of diethylnitrosamine and phenobarbital given continuously as the promoting agent and by assaying serial liver sections for glucose-6-phosphatase, adenosine-5'-triphosphatase and 5'-nucleotidase, we have identified the three-enzyme pattern of 1,746 islands and measured their section areas. We found a clear trend that clones with more deviated enzyme pattern grow faster than less deviated ones.