© 1987 Oxford University Press
research-article |
Male Reproductive Assessment of the Rubber Accelerator N-Oxydiethylene Thiocarbamyl-N-Oxydiethylene Sulfenamide in Rats
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*Environmental Health Department The B F. Goodrich Company, 3925 Embassy Parkway, Akron, Ohio 44313
Experimental Pathology Laboratories Inc., P. 0. Box 474, Herndon, Virginia 22070
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Intox Laboratories Inc., P. 0. Box 350, RedJield, Arkansas 72132
The rubber accelerator N-oxydiethylene thiocarbamyl-N-oxydiethylene sulfenamide (OTOS) was evaluated to determine its potential to cause reproductive effects. No evidence of a compound-related effect on mating, fertility, gestation length, number of implants or live births, pup growth, and survival was observed using Sprague–Dawley rats. Furthermore, light and electron microscopy of the testes from the high-dose males failed to reveal any morphological changes compared to the controls. Groups of 12 male Sprague–Dawley rats were continuously administered diets containing 0, 60, 200, or 600 ppm OTOS for 12 weeks. Following 56 days of exposure, the males were subsequently cohoused nightly with two females for a maximum of 21 days. During this mating period, males continued to receive control and OTOS-containing diets; however, feeders were removed for nightly cohabitation. Although a 4 to 8% reduction in body weight was observed in the 600 ppm animals, statistical significance was reached only at the end of the first week of treatment. In the 60 and 200 ppm males body weights generally were slightly elevated compared to the control, with the 60 ppm body weights showing statistically significant differences during Weeks 5 to 7 of exposure.