Intrauterine exposure to diethylhexyl phthalate disrupts gap junctions in the fetal rat testis

• DOI: 10.1016/j.crtox.2020.02.002
• Publication Date: 2020-03-10T08:09:57Z
• Authors: Mariana Di Lorenzo; Sofia Boeg Winge; Terje Svingen; Maria De Falco; Julie Boberg
• Keywords: Reproductive toxicity

Fetal exposure to certain phthalate esters can disrupt testis development in rodents and lead male reproductive disorders, but with a causal link less humans. Di(2-ethylhexyl) (DEHP) is one of the most common phthalates found environment it known induce serious toxicity, as well disorders including cryptorchidism, hypospadias, impaired spermatogenesis reduced fertility. In this study, we show that perinatal DEHP disrupts gap junction localization fetal postnatal rat correlate these findings morphological changes. The protein Connexin 43 (CX43), normally expressed strongly testicular junctions, was markedly downregulated Leydig cells DEHP-exposed testes. testes, CX43 expression recovered animals, even though cell clusters malformed cords intratubular were still present.