JBRA Assisted Reproduction 2025;29(Suppl.2 SBRA 2025):103
Poster Presentation
29th Annual Congress of the SBRA. São Paulo/SP - Brazil, 2025
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20263690
P-91. Exposure to the environmental contaminant Nitrosodimethyl amine can affect reproductive and sperm parameters on the second non-directly exposed generation of Wistar rats from the paternal lineage (PF2)
Giovanna Kugel Marraschi1, Lívia Trippi Nagaoka1, Julia Stein1, Julia Vitoria Francisco de Aquino1, Otávio Galassi Vitale1, Sara Tawany Caetano dos Santos1, Reggina Lorena Mellado Castro1, Giovanna Ferrari Rosalem1, Júlia Tavares Alves1, Luara Magalhaes1, Bárbara Campos Jorge1, Arielle Cristina Arena1
1 Instituto de Biociências de Botucatu - IBB UNESP – Botucatu – SP - Brasil
2 Assistência Toxicológica - CIATox – Botucatu – SP - Brasil
Objective: Exposure to environmental contaminants can contribute as an infertility cause. Future generations of exposed individuals may suffer the consequences of this ancestral exposure, inheriting epigenetic alterations in their germ cells. The study aims to evaluate the multigenerational effects of the direct exposure of the F0 generation to a low dose of an important contaminant, Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), on the reproductive development and seminal quality of male Wistar rats of the F2 generation of paternal lineage (PF2).
Methods: Male and female Wistar rats of F0 generation, the only generation exposed, were initially divided into 2 experimental groups (control and NDMA) and exposed to vehicle (1mL/kg/day of deionized water) or NDMA (7.2 ng/kg/day) by gavage (8 rats/group/sex) during the preconception, mating and gestational/lactational periods. These animals mated within their own group to generate the F1 generation, where only male rats were selected (1 male/litter) to continue the study, and, as adults, mated with external females giving rise to the PF2. Male offspring of PF2 generation were assessed for early development and puberty onset parameters, and at postnatal day (PND) 70 and 110, were euthanized to visceral and reproductive organ collection for weight analysis. Part of the epididymis on PND 110 were also used to evaluate motility sperm parameters by the Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA) system.
Results: The results regarding initial parameters remained unchanged, as did those relating to the puberty onset. The organ weight at PND 70, also showed no changes, however, at PND 110, the relative weight of the testis (430.90±5.81 vs. 394.20±10.65, p=0.0051), epididymis (151.10±3.53 vs. 135.10±4.28, p=0.0077), prostate (89.38±5.00 vs. 73.63±4.50, p=0.0262), duct (25.98±1.09 vs. 22.32±1.25, p=0.0356) and tireoide (4.12±0.33 vs. 2.81±0.16, p=0.0019) were reduced in the NDMA group. This weight alteration can possibly impact the sperm production and androgynous signaling, relating to NDMA´s endocrine disruption potential. In addition, the sperm motility was also altered in the NDMA group, showing less percentage of progressive sperm (42.83±5.00 vs. 25.52±3.51, p=0.0178) and a reduction of the STR (straightness) (75.70±2.92 vs. 65.09±2.00, p=0.0084) and LIN (linearity) (28.36±1.53 vs. 23.67±0.57, p=0.0169) parameters, indicating a decline in seminal quality and a long-term fertility impact to the PF2 offspring.
Conclusion: The presenting results support the fetal programming hypothesis by NDMA in this generation, and may also prove that, even the second non-directly exposed generation to a secure considered dose can be affected by these contaminants. Although, further analysis will be important to understand how NDMA can cause these multigenerational reproductive effects.