Reproductive Toxicology

Numerous reports demonstrate that the reproductive system could be affected by multiple potential toxicological agents. The volume includes different aspects of the development of new approaches to in vitro testing using sperm cells and systems involved on reproduction in mammals. Comparative analysis of in vivo and in vitro methods has been included to take steps towards the further development of and applications of new systems for germline toxicology.

Zusammenfassung
Proceedings of a workshop held in Granada, Spain, October 8-10, 1997

Inhalt
Chapters.- 1) Advances in Improving Human Risk Estimation.- Trends in male reproductive health. Environmental aspects.- Organochlorine compounds and xenoestrogens in human endometrium.- Assays to measure estrogen and androgen agonists and antagonists.- Development of a marker of estrogenic exposure in breast cancer patients.- 2) New Approaches for In Vitro Analysis of Germ Cells Exposure to Toxicological Agents.- In vitro culture systems for germ cells from mouse embryo: primordial germ cells and oocytes.- Cell culture systems for the analysis of the male germinal differentiation.- In vitro survival of human neoplastic germ cells.- Effects of rapamycin and fk 506 on rat sertoli cells in vitro.- Flow cytometry as a tool for the evaluation of testicular toxicity.- DNA damage in human and mouse spermatozoa after in vitro-irradiation assessed by the comet assay.- In vitro models for the investigation of reproductive toxicology in the testis.- Effect of metal compounds on boar sperm motility in vitro.- In vitro analysis of xenoestrogens by enzyme linked receptor assays (ELRA).- 3) Molecular and Developmental Approaches for Assessing Reproductive Toxicity:.- Current and future contributions of transgenic mice to the analysis of germline toxicology.- Evaluation of the placenta: suggestions for a greater role in developmental toxicology.- Protective mechanisms in germ cells: stress proteins in spermatogenesis.- Molecular cloning and developmental pattern of expression of msj-1, a new male germ cell-specific DnaJ homologue.- Analysis of gene regulation in Sertoli cells by a gene trap approach.- Biochemical characterization of benomyl inhibition on endometrial growth during decidualization in rats.- 4) Animal Risk Assessment. In Vivo / In Vitro Comparative Analysis.- An overviewof current in vivo test procedures to reproductive toxicology.- A new assay to assess aneuploidy in human-hamster embryos.- Single day treatment - a feasible tool in revealing not dependent on maternal toxicity teratogenic potential.- The effect of parathion on mouse testicular and epididymal development cultured in chicken allantochorion.- Evaluation of xenoestrogenic effects in fish on different organization levels.- Effects on female fertility and germinal cells in prepubertal and adult rats (Rattus norvegicus) after X-ray irradiation.