Authors: Marco Zaccaroni Daniele Della Seta Francesca Farabollini Leonida Fusani Francesco DessìFulgheri
Publish Date: 2016/06/29
Volume: 30, Issue: 4, Pages: 553-562
Abstract
Ethinylestradiol EE2 a synthetic mimic of 17βestradiol is widespread in the environment because of its use as a contraceptive In mammals recent research highlighted behavioral physiological and morphological effects of exposition to EE2 this xenoestrogen We studied if developmental exposure to environmentallike low doses of EE2 affects measures of anxiety in Sprague–Dawley rats We treated male and female rats with two doses of EE2 4 and 400 ng/kg/day either from GD 5 through PND 32 or from PND 1 through 21 Effects on anxiety were tested by novel place preference tests In males and females treated from GD 5 through PND 32 a significant reduction of the time passed in the novel environment was observed The decrease of the time spent in the novel compartment and the increase in the number of transitions between familiar and novel compartments indicate increased levels of anxiety in the EE2treated subjects These studies suggest that exposure to very low doses of EE2 during development can affect key behavioral traits that are modulated by anxiety
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