OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of maternal decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) exposure on the sexual development in male offspring rats.

METHODSTwenty-four pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three BDE-209 exposure groups and one control group. The three BDE-209 exposure groups were given BDE-209 (100, 300, and 900 mg/kg) by gavage on gestational days 12∼18, and the control group was given corn oil. The body weight and body length of each newborn male rat was measured at postnatal days 4, 10, 16, and 21. Twelve newborn male rats were randomly selected from each group; anogenital distance was measured at postnatal day 21, serum testosterone was measured, and the organ coefficient of testis was calculated.

RESULTSThe newborn male rats in all exposure groups showed declining trends in body weight and body length compared with those in the control group, and the 900 mg/kg BDE-209 exposure group had significantly lower body weight and body length than the control group at postnatal days 4, 10,16, and 21 (P < 0.01). At postnatal day 21, the 100, 300, and 900 mg/kg BDE-209 exposure groups had anogenital distances of 17.82±2.35 mm, 16.32±1.66 mm, and 15.80±1.34 mm, respectively, demonstrating a significant decrease with increased exposure dose (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was found when comparing these values with that of the control group (16.64±2.38 mm) (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in serum testosterone and organ coefficients of testis and epididymis between the control group and BDE-209 exposure groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONMaternal exposure to BDE-209 has adverse effect on the growth of male offspring rats, but it leads to no significant changes in sexual development.