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Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Transgenic Rodent Assay for Quantifying Male Germ Cell Mutant Frequency
Published on: August 6, 2014
Impact of environmental pollutants on the male: effects on germ cell differentiation
1Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1683, USA. D_N_Rao.Veeramachaneni@colostate.edu
Abstract:
A variety of so-called innocuous chemicals can have insidious and long lasting effects on the developing male reproductive system. Developmental exposures of male rabbits to common industrial contaminants in drinking water (a mixture of arsenic, chromium, lead, benzene, chloroform, phenol, and trichloroethylene); alkyl phenols (e.g. octylphenol); water disinfection by-products (e.g. dibromoacetic acid); anti-androgenic pesticides (e.g. p,p'-DDT and vinclozolin); and plasticizers (e.g. dibutyl phthalate) produce testicular dysgenesis. The lesions include testicular carcinoma in situ, also called intratubular germ cell neoplasia--the precursor lesion of germ cell tumors in men, and acrosomal dysgenesis--characterized by sharing of a dysplastic acrosome by two or more spermatids resulting in characteristic sperm acrosomal-nuclear malformations. Certain manifestations of testicular dysgenesis arch across environmental agents, and sequelae of intentional developmental exposures of rabbits duplicate what has been encountered in deer, horses, and humans for which the etiology is uncertain.
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