Effects of endocrine disruptor furan on reproductive physiology of Sprague Dawley rats: An F1 Extended One-Generation Reproductive Toxicity Study (EOGRTS). (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rehman, H; Jahan, S; Ullah, I; Thörnqvist, P-O; Jabbar, M; Shoaib, M; Aman, F; John, N
• Is Part Of: Human & experimental toxicology. Volume 39:Number 8(2020)
• Page Start: 1079
• Page End: 1094
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: Furan -- puberty -- Extended One-Generation Reproductive Toxicity Study (EOGRTS) -- histopathology; Toxicology -- Periodicals; 615.9
• DOI: 10.1177/0960327120911416
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-3271

Abstract

The present study investigated the reproductive toxicity of furan in an Extended One-Generation Reproductive Toxicity Study in rats. Sprague Dawley F0 weaning rats (30 per sex per group) were exposed to furan orally at 0, 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg kg −1 for 10 weeks (males) and 2 weeks (females) and then mated. Results of F0 indicated that in the furan-treated groups (5 mg kg −1 and 10 mg kg −1 ), body weight (bw) gain decreased during prebreed and gestational period while increased during lactation periods. F0 animals prebreeding exposure resulted in head tilt and foot splay at 10 mg kg −1 . Number of live pups at birth were decreased ( p < 0.001) at 10 mg kg −1 . At postnatal day (PND) 70, a significant ( p = 0.03) decrease in testosterone levels of male rats and estrogen levels of female rats ( p = 0.05) was observed in 10 mg kg −1 furan-treated group in F1 generation. Luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and progesterone levels were also reduced, but their reduction was not statistically significant in all groups. In higher dose furan group (10 mg kg −1 ), testicular and ovarian weights were reduced in F1 generation at PND 70, with decreased daily sperm production ( p = 0.01) and disturbed estrous cyclicity ( p < 0.01). Some histopathological changes were also observed in testis and ovaries in groups whose parents were previously exposed to 10 mg kg −1 bw of furan group. Based on the above results, it is suggested that exposure to food-based contaminant furan induced remarkable changes in the F0 (parental stage) and F1 (offspring, pubertal, and adult stage) generations of Sprague Dawley rats.