Fertility in mice after prenatal exposure to benzo[a]pyrene and inorganic lead

Abstract

Experimental evidence suggests that inorganic lead and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) suppress the development of primordial oocytes during fetal life. We examined the single and combined effects of prenatal exposure to BaP and moderate doses of lead. The fertility and ovarian morphology of F1 female NMRI mice in four treatment groups (nine mice per group) were investigated: control; lead (F0 given 1 g PbCl2/L in drinking water until mating); BaP (10 mg/kg body weight daily by oral incubation on days 7-16 of F0 pregnancy); and combined lead and BaP. F1 groups exposed prenatally to BaP either alone or in combination with inorganic lead showed markedly reduced fertility with few ovarian follicles compared to controls, whereas the group exposed to lead only had measures comparable to the controls. Mice exposed to both lead and BaP had a significantly longer gestation period (days to litter) compared to mice only exposed to BaP, lead or controls. There is a nonsignificant indication that the compounds together further reduce the number of litters, the litter size. These results suggest that lead and BaP have synergist effects on impairment of fertility. The possibility of synergism may be of human relevance as inorganic lead and BaP are ubiquitous environmental pollutants.