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

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 for 10 weeks (males) and 2 weeks (females) and then mated. Results of F0 indicated that in the furan-treated groups (5 mg kg and 10 mg kg), 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. Number of live pups at birth were decreased ( < 0.001) at 10 mg kg. At postnatal day (PND) 70, a significant ( = 0.03) decrease in testosterone levels of male rats and estrogen levels of female rats ( = 0.05) was observed in 10 mg kg 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), testicular and ovarian weights were reduced in F1 generation at PND 70, with decreased daily sperm production ( = 0.01) and disturbed estrous cyclicity ( < 0.01). Some histopathological changes were also observed in testis and ovaries in groups whose parents were previously exposed to 10 mg kg 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.