ToxSci Advance Access published online on January 11, 2007
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfm002
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Published by Oxford University Press 2007.
Prenatal Testosterone Exposure Permanently Masculinizes Anogenital Distance, Nipple Development and Reproductive Tract Morphology in Female Sprague-Dawley Rats
TESTOSTERONE-INDUCED MALFORMATIONS IN RATS
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* Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
Reproductive Toxicology Division, Endocrinology Branch, MD 72, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
USEPA/NCSU Cooperative Training agreement, Raleigh, NC 27695
# Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA
To whom correspondence should be sent: above address, or phone (919-541-7750) or fax (919-541-4017), or email: gray.earl{at}epa.gov
Received October 25, 2006; accepted January 2, 2007
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Abstract |
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In mammals, abnormal increases in fetal androgens disrupt normal development of the female phenotype. Due to the recent concern regarding environmental androgen-active chemicals, there is a need to identify sources of fetal androgen variation and sensitive developmental markers for androgenic activity in female rats. Anogenital distances (AGD), nipple retention, reproductive tract, external genitalia, are morphological parameters organized by prenatal androgens and are predictive of altered masculinized/defeminized phenotype in adult female mice and rats. The objectives of this study were to 1) characterize the natural prenatal androgen environment of rats including the magnitude of the intra-uterine position effect, 2) characterize the permanent effects of prenatal androgen exposure on female rats, and 3) determine the ability of AGD and areolas to predict these permanent androgenic alterations in female rats. Untreated male fetal rats had higher tissue T concentrations than females in the amniotic fluid, reproductive tract, gonad, and fetal body. The intrauterine position of male and female fetuses did not affect T-concentrations or AGD in male or female rats at GD 22. Female offspring exposed to 0, 1.5, 2.5 mg/kg/d TP on gestational days 14-18 displayed increased AGD at postnatal day 2 (PND 2) and decreased nipples at PND 13 and as adults. TP-induced changes in neonatal AGD and infant areola number were reliable indicators of permanently altered adult phenotype in female rats. Further, females in the two high dose groups displayed increased incidences of external genital malformations and the presence of prostatic tissue, not normally found in female rats.
Key Words: AGD; areola; masculinization; reproductive development; fetal androgen; intrauterine position.
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