Testicular degeneration induced in rat offspring by maternal treatment with sobuzoxane

Pregnant rats were orally administered sobuzoxane (an antitumor drug) during various days of gestation and the testicular development of their offspring was examined histopathologically on day 21 after birth. When 15.6 to 250 mg/kg of sobuzoxane was given every day from day 7 to 17 of gestation, seminiferous tubules devoid of spermatogonia and/or spermatocytes were found in a dose related manner. The critical period for testicular degeneration was identified to be day 13 and 14 of gestation by single administration experiments and single treatment with 15.6 to 250 mg/kg of sobuzoxane on day 14 of gestation gave a dose-dependent incidence of the tests abnormality. These results suggest that the testis abnormality in offspring from dams treated with sobuzoxane is due to inhibition of the proliferation of primordial germ cells during testis organogenesis.