Exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide formulation, but not glyphosate alone, has only minor effects on adult rat testis

•Exposure to pure glyphosate at 50xADI does not affect testis androgen function in male rats.•Glyfonova formulation has limited effects on adult rat testis, and the effect is not driven by glyphosate iteself.•We found no evidence for glyphosate being an endocrine disruptor in this study. Glyphosate...

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Published in:Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2018-12, Vol.82, p.25-31
Main Authors: Johansson, Hanna Katarina Lilith, Schwartz, Camilla Lindgren, Nielsen, Lene Nørby, Boberg, Julie, Vinggaard, Anne Marie, Bahl, Martin Iain, Svingen, Terje
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Androgens
Animals
Cholesterol Side-Chain Cleavage Enzyme - genetics
Glycine - analogs & derivatives
Glycine - toxicity
Glyphosate
Herbicides - toxicity
Male
Pesticides
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Steroid 17-alpha-Hydroxylase - genetics
Steroidogenesis
Testis
Testis - drug effects
Testis - metabolism
Testosterone
Testosterone - metabolism
Toxicology
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Summary:•Exposure to pure glyphosate at 50xADI does not affect testis androgen function in male rats.•Glyfonova formulation has limited effects on adult rat testis, and the effect is not driven by glyphosate iteself.•We found no evidence for glyphosate being an endocrine disruptor in this study. Glyphosate has been suggested to be an endocrine disrupting chemical capable of disrupting male reproduction. There are conflicting data, however, with studies reporting effects from exposure to either glyphosate alone or to herbicide formulations, making comparisons difficult. We assessed rat testis histopathology and androgen function following two weeks exposure to either glyphosate at 2.5 and 25 mg/kg bw/day (5x and 50x Acceptable Daily Intake, ADI, respectively), or equivalent high dose of glyphosate in a herbicide formulation; Glyfonova. We observed no significant effects on testes or testosterone synthesis in rats exposed to glyphosate. Limited effects were observed in rats exposed to Glyfonova, with a small upregulation of the steroidogenic genes Cyp11a1 and Cyp17a1. We conclude that glyphosate alone has no effect on adult rat testis at exposure levels up to 25 mg/kg bw/day. Glyfonova induced only minor effects on steroidogenic gene expression, likely caused by additives other than glyphosate.
ISSN:0890-6238
1873-1708
DOI:10.1016/j.reprotox.2018.09.008