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Chris E. Talsness,¹ Sergio N. Kuriyama,¹ Anja Sterner-Kock,² Petra Schnitker,² Simone Wichert Grande,¹ Mehdi Shakibaei,³ Anderson Andrade,¹ Konstanze Grote,¹ and Ibrahim Chahoud¹

¹Department of Toxicology, Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité University Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany; ²Department of Veterinary Pathology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; ³Department of Anatomy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany

Abstract
Background: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are capable of disrupting thyroid hormone homeostasis. PBDE-47 (2,2´,4,4´-tetrabromodiphenyl ether) is one of the most abundant congeners found in human breast adipose tissue and maternal milk samples.

Objectives: We evaluated the effects of developmental exposure to low doses of PBDE-47 on the female reproductive system.

Methods: Pregnant Wistar rats were administered vehicle (peanut oil) or PBDE-47 [140 or 700 µg/kg body weight (bw) ] on gestation day (GD) 6, or 5 mg 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) /L in the drinking water from GD7 through postnatal day (PND) 21.

Results: In female offspring sacrificed on PND38, there was a significant decrease in ovarian weight after exposure to PTU or 140 µg/kg PBDE-47. Alterations in folliculogenesis were apparent: we observed a decrease in tertiary follicles and serum estradiol concentrations in the offspring exposed to either PTU or 700 µg/kg PBDE-47. PTU exposure also resulted in a decrease in primordial follicles. On PND100, persistent effects on the thyroid glands included histologic and morphometric changes after exposure to either PTU or PBDE-47. No relevant changes in reproductive indices were observed after mating the exposed F₁ females with nontreated males.

Conclusions: Administration of PBDE-47 at doses relevant to human exposure led to changes in the rat female reproductive system and thyroid gland.

Key words: development, endocrine disruption, in vivo, PBDE-47, reproductive system, thyroid. Environ Health Perspect 116:308–314 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10536 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 3 December 2007]

Address correspodence to C.E. Talsness, Charité University Medical School Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Toxicology, Garystr. 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany. Telephone: 49 30 8445 1754. Fax: 49 30 8445 1761. E-mail: chris.talsness@charite.de

We thank H. Marburger, K. Fischer, N. Hinz, and B. Woelffel for excellent technical assistance.

This study was funded by the Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency ; grant 29965221/04) .

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 7 June 2007 ; accepted 3 December 2007.