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Updated: May 31, 2026

Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Persistent organic pollutants have dose and CAG repeat length dependent effects on androgen receptor activity in
Christel Björk1, Hannah Nenonen, Aleksander Giwercman
1Department of Clinical Sciences, Molecular Genetic Reproductive Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden. christel.bjork@med.lu.se
Abstract:
Recently, the effect of exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on sperm concentration was only seen in men with a short androgen receptor (AR) gene CAG repeat. In order to investigate whether these effects could be observed also in vitro, we tested the impact of 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dichloroethene (4,4'-DDE) on 5α-dihydrotestosterone activated ARs containing 16, 22 and 28 CAG repeats, respectively. Single exposure to 4,4'-DDE had the most pronounced effect on the AR activity containing 16 CAG repeats, whereas 28 CAG was the most sensitive variant when a mixture of the two compounds was added. Thus, our in vitro results have confirmed the in vivo data indicating a CAG repeat length dependent effect of endocrine disrupters on the AR activity.
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