Abstract
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found to contaminate the ecosystem and reach both prenatal and postnatal individuals via the placental circulation and milk, respectively. Some PCBs also possess weak estrogenic activity. Experiments were devised to examine the estrogenic activity of Aroclors (Monsanto Co.) and their capacity to induce a permanently altered pattern of neuroendocrine reproductive function in female rats treated only during neonatal development. Aroclor 1221 at a dose of 1000 μg/kg body weight produced significant uterine growth 24 hr after treatment in weanling rats. This estrogenic PCB given to pups only on the second and third days of life induced precocious puberty, persistent vaginal estrus (PVE), and anovulation by 6 months of age; the latter end points are signs of reproductive again and do not normally occur in rats until later in life. Aroclors 1242, 1254, and 1260 did not produce a uterotrophic response in weanling rats at the doses tested nor did they induce the PVE syndrome when given to neonates. It is concluded that there is an association between the estrogenic activity of a PCB and its effectiveness in altering neuroendocrine differentiation and inducing premature reproductive aging.
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