Transcript profiling in the testes and prostates of postnatal day 30 Sprague-Dawley rats exposed prenatally and lactationally to 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone

Abstract

2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (HMB) is an ultraviolet (UV) light-absorbing compound that is used in sunscreens, cosmetics and plastics. HMB has been reported to have weak estrogenic activity by in vivo and in vitro studies, making it a chemical with potential reproductive concern. To explore if perinatal HMB exposure altered the gene expression profiling in the rat prostate and testis, we performed microarray gene expression profiling on the prostate and testis from Sprague-Dawley rat offspring fed various doses of HMB (0, 3000, or 30000 ppm) in 5K96 low phytoestrogen chow from gestational day (GD) 6 through postnatal day (PND) 21. Gene expression profiles of the prostate and testis were differentially affected by HMB dose and duration of exposure, and also indicated tissue-specific alterations. These genes that altered expression indicate a potential utility of candidate biomarker(s) for testicular or prostatic toxicity. Further studies are necessary to explore this potential.

Gene expression profiling of cultured mouse testis fragments treated with ethinylestradiol

“…Using RNA sequencing analysis, we found that 16 genes of the 45 down-regulated genes (26 genes were unknown) had testis-specific expression or were predominantly expressed in the testis according to NCBI database searching. Our finding of changes of the transcript levels of the genes that express testis-specific or abundant in testis are similar to a report of gene expression profiles in the testis of rats exposed to the highest dose of the sunscreen compound oxybenzone (Nakamura et al, 2018). As testis-specific genes have been previously reported to play a role in spermatogenesis (Dix et al, 1996), the exposure to highest dose of chemicals probably affects testis growth, resulting in altered gene expression changes that are related to spermatogenesis.…”