1. No association found between prenatal exposure to PCBs and total serum testosterone in adult male offspring of the Child Health and Development Studies
Linda G. Kahn1, Piera Cirillo2, Barbara Cohn2, June-Soo Park3, Myrto Petreas3, Pam Factor-Litvak1
1 Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY
2 Child Health and Development Studies, Berkeley, CA 3 Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency
Introduction
The coincident rise in widespread use of industrial and agricultural chemicals and reported decline in semen quality and increase in testicular cancer in developed countries has led researchers to hypothesize that persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) might interfere with the production and/or regulation of male reproductive hormones. In contrast with cross-sectional studies of PCBs and testosterone, which suggest an inverse relationship between the two, investigations into the effect of prenatal PCB exposure on total testosterone have found no association at endpoints ranging from birth through adolescence. In this study, we explore whether this apparent lack of association between prenatal PCB and testosterone persists into adulthood.
Results
No association found between total prenatal PCBs, individual PCB congeners, and PCB groupings and
Total serum testosterone
FSH
FSH/Testosterone
controlling for maternal weight, race, coffee intake and income, and men’s age, smoking status, perceived stress, and total serum lipids.
Conclusion
Prenatal exposure to PCBs is not associated with total serum testosterone in our data, confirming findings in other birth cohorts that included younger participants.
Group 1b PCBs
Estrogenic/neurotoxic
Mono-ortho PCBs
Di-ortho PCBs
Tri-ortho PCBs
Group 3 PCBs
Enzyme-inducing
Group 2b PCBs
Antiestrogenic (dioxinlike)
Group 2a PCBs
Antiestrogenic(dioxinlike)
Methods
Study sample: 196 men who were part of the Child Health and Development Studies birth cohort followed up at mean age 43
Exposures: Prenatal PCBs from stored postpartum maternal blood
Total PCBs
15 individual PCB congeners
Grouped according to 3 chlorination patterns
Grouped according to proposed biological mechanism*
Outcomes: Testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in the adult men.
PCBs 101, 187
PCBs 66, 74,
105, 118, 156
PCBs 66,
74, 105,
118, 156
PCBs 99,
101, 138,
154, 170,
180, 194
PCBs
138,
170
PCBs 183,
187, 203
PCBs 99, 153,
180, 183, 203
* Wolff MS, Camann D, Gammon M, Stellman SD. Proposed PCB congener groupings
for epidemiologic studies. Environ Health Perspect 105(1):13-14 (1995).