Skip Navigation


ToxSci Advance Access originally published online on February 3, 2009
Toxicological Sciences 2009 108(2):437-444; doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfp023
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
108/2/437    most recent
kfp023v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hansen, P. R.
Right arrow Articles by Hass, U.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hansen, P. R.
Right arrow Articles by Hass, U.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Evaluation of Endocrine Disrupting Effects of Nitrate after In Utero Exposure in Rats and of Nitrate and Nitrite in the H295R and T-Screen Assay

Pernille Reimer Hansen, Camilla Taxvig, Sofie Christiansen, Marta Axelstad, Julie Boberg, Maria Kristina Kiersgaard, Christine Nellemann and Ulla Hass1

National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, DK-2860 Søborg, Denmark

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Ulha{at}food.dtu.dk.

Received November 21, 2008; accepted January 28, 2009


  Abstract

Animal studies have shown that nitrate acts as an endocrine disrupter affecting the androgen production in adult males. This raises a concern for more severe endocrine disrupting effects after exposure during the sensitive period of prenatal male sexual development. As there are no existing studies of effects of nitrate on male sexual development, the aim of the study was to examine how in utero exposure to nitrate would affect male rat fetuses. Pregnant dams were dosed with nitrate in the drinking water from gestational day (GD) 7 to GD21 at the following dose levels 17.5, 50, 150, 450, and 900 mg/l. At GD21, fetuses were examined for anogenital distance, plasma thyroxine levels, testicular and plasma levels of testosterone and progesterone, and testicular testosterone production and histopathology. In addition, endocrine disrupting activity of nitrate and nitrite were studied in two in vitro assays, the H295R assay and T-screen. There were no consistent indications that nitrate induces anti-androgenic effects in male fetuses or that prenatal nitrate exposure affected the thyroid axis. However, a more comprehensive study with long-term exposure before and during pre- and postnatal development would be relevant to sufficiently address the concerns based on the indications for endocrine disrupting effects in adult animals.

Key Words: nitrate; nitrite; endocrine disruption; H295R assay; T-Screen; steroidogenesis; developmental toxicity; rat.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.