Induction of progesterone receptor immunoexpression in stromal tissue throughout the male reproductive tract after neonatal oestrogen treatment of rats

Differential Expression of Estrogen Receptor-α and -β and Androgen Receptor in the Ovaries of Marmosets and Humans

“…On Western blots in other studies, the anti-P4 antibody recognized an approximately 60-kDa protein in extracts from rat epididymis, seminal vesicle. and urogenital sinus [32]. Peptide P7 is not conserved in rodent, and the monoclonal anti-P7 antibody does not recognize ER␤ extracted from rat ovaries on Western blots or stain nuclei in sections from rat ovary or prostate (not shown).…”

Effects of Postnatal Administration of Diethylstilbestrol on Puberty and Thyroid Function in Male Rats

“…As perinatal exposure of male animals and humans to synthetic estrogens can induce similar adverse changes in male reproductive health, it has been hypothesized that inappropriate exposure to estrogens during juvenile periods may interfere with the development of the reproductive system and with the sperm count in the adult [10,11]. Faced with growing concern that environmental chemicals might impair human and animal fertility, it is important to investigate the possible influences of these substances on mammalian sexual differentiation and genital development [12,13].Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a stilbene, a non-steroid estrogen, that can bind to estrogen receptors (ERs) and is widely used as a model estrogen for the study of estrogenic effects on the male reproductive function [13][14][15][16]. DES has been observed to have endocrine and reproductive toxicity in rats and mice.…”

“…Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a stilbene, a non-steroid estrogen, that can bind to estrogen receptors (ERs) and is widely used as a model estrogen for the study of estrogenic effects on the male reproductive function [13][14][15][16]. DES has been observed to have endocrine and reproductive toxicity in rats and mice.…”

Effects of Maternal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol on Epididymal Development in Rat Offspring

“…The mechanism via which brief estrogen exposure during development can lead to permanent structural and functional changes to the male reproductive tract are still unclear. Studies in rats treated neonatally with DES, have shown the impaired development of the epithelium and relative overgrowth of stromal tissue in the epididymis [2,21], vas deferens [2], seminal vesicles [22], and prostate [16,22], during or soon after the cessation of treatment. These gross structural changes are associated with a reduced expression of the AR [10,12,13,21,22], and with the induction of the abnormal expression of estrogen receptor  [ER; 2,14,22].…”

“…Studies in rats treated neonatally with DES, have shown the impaired development of the epithelium and relative overgrowth of stromal tissue in the epididymis [2,21], vas deferens [2], seminal vesicles [22], and prostate [16,22], during or soon after the cessation of treatment. These gross structural changes are associated with a reduced expression of the AR [10,12,13,21,22], and with the induction of the abnormal expression of estrogen receptor  [ER; 2,14,22].Our previous study demonstrated that fetal administration of a low dose of DES induced a low level of testosterone, which led to a slight modification of spermatogenesis at 15 weeks, instead of a more extensive disruption of the morphological development of the epididymis, reducing the weight of the epididymis, the height of epididymal tubule epithelial cells, and luminal diameters [23]. Therefore, we speculated on which fetal DES treatment effects the cell proliferation of epididymal tubule epithelial cells.…”