Abstract
Some of endocrine disruptors with sexual hormone-like effects have been increasingly reported to be immunotoxic in many species in recent several years. Phthalate esters have possible effects on the endocrine system. Prenatal exposure to di(n-butyl) phthalate (DBP) has been reported to impair the androgen-dependent development of the male reproductive tract in rat. Therefore, the immunomodulatory effect of DBP was investigated in the developing immune system of fetal and neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats. Timed-bred pregnant SD rats were given to the doses of 0, 250, 500, and 750 mg DBP/kg$\cdot$ body weight /day by gavage once a day from gestational day (GD) 5 to 18. On GD19 or GD22/postnatal day one (PD1), the dams were euthanized, and the changes in organ weights and thymus phenotypes were examined for their offsprings. At 750 mg DBP/kg$\cdot$b.w./day in maternal exposure group, GD19 fetuses showed decreases in body weight. The spleen/body weight ratios were reduced in GD 19 fetuses from the dams exposed to 500 and 750 mg DBP/kg$\cdot$b.w./day. There were no significant changes in thymus and spleen cellularities though these cellularities showed a tendency to decrease in a dose dependent way. In the DBP-exsposed GD22/PD1 offsprings, the body weights, the relative organ weights and the cellularities did not exhibit alteration. Additionally, the percentages of CD3$^{+}$(CD4$^{+}$CD8$^{+}$, CD4$^{+}$CD8$^{-}$, CD4$^{-}$CD8$^{+}$, and CD4$^{-}$CD8$^{-}$) and CD3$^{-}$(CD4$^{+}$CD8$^{+}$, CD4$^{+}$CD8$^{-}$, CD4$^{-}$CD8$^{+}$, and CD4$^{-}$CD8$^{-}$) thymocyte subsets were not changed in any DBP-treated group. The proliferative responses of splenic T cells to Con A and B cells to LPS were decreased in all DBP-exposed GD22/PD1 offsprings.
