The adverse effects of low-dose exposure to Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate during adolescence on sperm function in adult rats

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• 作者：Ping-Chi Hsu ; Ya-Ting Kuo ; Yueliang Leon Guo ; Jenq-Renn Chen ; Shinn-Shyong Tsai ; How-Ran Chao ; Yen-Ni Teng and Min-Hsiung Pan
• 关键词：di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate ; low-dose exposure ; adolescence ; sperm function ; sperm chromatin DNA damage
• 刊名：Environmental Toxicology
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：June 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：31
• 期：6
• 页码：706-712
• 全文大小：208K
• ISSN：1522-7278

文摘

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is the most crucial phthalate derivative added to polyvinyl chloride as a plasticizer. This study examined the effects of low-dose exposure to DEHP during adolescence on sperm function in adult rats. The male rats were daily gavaged with 30, 100, 300, and 1000 µg kg⁻¹ of DEHP or corn oil from postnatal day (PND) 42 until PND 105. The selection of DEHP doses ranged from the mean daily intake by the normal-population exposure levels to no-observed-adverse-effect level of DEHP for the endpoints evaluated until adulthood. Significant increases in the percentage of sperm with tail abnormality, tendency for sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and percentage of sperm with DFI were found in those exposed to 100, 300, and 1000 µg kg⁻¹ (P < 0.05). We observed a significant increase of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) generation in the sperm of the 1000 µg kg⁻¹ group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The excessive production of sperm H₂O₂ coincided with an increase in sperm DFI. In this study, the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level for sperm toxicity was considered to be 100 µg DEHP/kg/day in sperm morphology and chromatin DNA damage. Further research is necessary to clarify the mechanisms of DEHP-related sperm ROS generation on sperm DNA damage.