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Effects of long-term maternal exposure to low doses of PCB126 and PCB153 on the reproductive system and related hormones of young male goats

¹ Department of Production Animal Clinical Science, The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway, ² National Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway, ³ Division of Chemical Toxicology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway, ⁴ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Conway Institute of Biomedical and Biochemical Research, University College, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland and ⁵ Department of Biology, University of Tromsø, Norway

Correspondence should be addressed to Irma C Oskam, PO Box 8146 Dep., NO-0033 Oslo, Norway; Email: irma.oskam{at}veths.no

In this study, female goats were orally exposed to PCB126 or PCB153, at 49 ng/kg body weight per day and 98 µg/kg body weight per day respectively, from gestational day 60 until delivery at approximately day 150. Exposure of the offspring continued via lactation until postnatal day 40. Reproductive toxicity in the male offspring was studied by the evaluation of conventional reproductive endpoints as well as flow cytometric analyses of spermatogenesis and sperm chromatin structure. PCB153-treated animals showed a significant smaller testis diameter in comparison to the control group. Neither of the treated groups showed differences for plasma FSH in comparison to controls. PCB153-treated animals differed significantly from the control group with respect to plasma LH and testosterone levels, whereas PCB126-treated animals only differed from the controls in plasma testosterone concentrations. Neither the PCB126 nor the PCB153 group differed from the controls with respect to the conventional sperm parameters or testis histology. A significant lower ratio of interstitium area to seminiferous tubules area and proportion of diploid testis cells were observed for the PCB153 group. Sperm from PCB153-treated animals showed a significantly higher percentage of sperm with damaged DNA. From the results of the present study it was concluded that PCB153 was able to induce alterations in reproductive endpoints related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-axis as well as to the testis. The effects observed in male kids after a long-term maternal exposure to PCB153 support the concept that exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds during foetal development may lead to adverse reproductive effects in adult life.