Objective To investigate the effect of intrauterine fenvalerate exposure on the male characteristics of offspring rats.
Methods Twenty pregnant SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, and intragastrically administrated with 0, 2, 10 and 50 mg/kg of fenvalerate respectively from gestation day 12 to 18. The number of nipple retention was observed of 35 male offspring rats randomly selected from each group on postnatal day 13. And 25 male offspring rats were randomly kept after ablactation in each group and killed on postnatal day 35 to prepare testicular homogenate. The level of nitric oxide (NO) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in testicles were measured.
Results Compared with the control group, the number of retained nipples was significantly increased in 50 mg/kg group (P < 0.05), but not in 2 and 10 mg/kg groups (P > 0.05); the activity of NOS was significantly increased in 10 and 50mg/kg groups (P < 0.05), but not in 2mg/kg group (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the level of NO between the exposed groups and the control group (P > 0.05).
Conclusion The intrauterine fenvalerate exposure exhibited obvious estrogenic effects on the male characteristics of offspring rats.
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