Antisera elicited in rabbits were used in radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine femtomole quantities of deoxyguanosin-(8-yl)-acetylaminofluorene (dg-8-AAF) and deoxyguanosin-(8-yl)-aminofluorene (dg-8-AF). These adducts have been monitored in liver and kidney DNA of male Wistar-Furth rats fed 0.02% or 0.04% 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF) either continuously or for a limited time followed by an interval on control diet. After 24 hr of 0.02% 2-AAF feeding, substantial levels of binding (80 fmole/mug DNA) were observed in liver DNA and increased with time, reaching a plateau of approximately 230 fmole/mug DNA at 30 days and thereafter. During the first week of continuous feeding about 80% of the total C-8 adducts in the liver DNA were deacetylated (dG-8-AF). By 25-60 days, dG-8-AF represented 97-100% of all C-8 adducts as measured by RIA and confirmed by HPLC. Values for C-8 adduct formation in kidney DNA were severalfold lower than in liver and dG-8-AF represented >90% of C-8 adducts at all times studied. In removal or repair experiments, rats were fed 2-AAF for 3, 7 or 28 days, the 2-AAF diet was discontinued and the liver adducts assayed after intervals on control diet. When dietary 2-AAF administration was for 3 or 7 days, removal of adducts was efficient and almost complete by 28 days on control diet, with preferential retention of dG-8-AF. However, when dietary 2-AAF administration was for 28 days, adduct levels were higher, the repair capacity was saturated and the removal of C-8 adducts was not complete after control diet for a 28-day interval. In a preliminary experiment when [(3)H]-2-AAF was fed for 3 days, after 25 days of 0.02% 2-AAF, the rates of newly formed adduct formation and removal were similar to those observed for the initial 3 days of 2-AAF feeding. These results demonstrate the predominance and persistence of dG-8-AF in liver and kidney DNA of 2-AAF-fed rats and suggest that the repair capacity of the whole rat liver was not diminished after 1 month of 2-AAF feeding.