ESTROGENIC ACTIVITY OF AN ENVIRONMENTALLY PERSISTENT ALKYLPHENOL IN THE REPRODUCTIVE-TRACT BUT NOT THE BRAIN OF RODENTS

Compounds with oestrogenic actions present in the environment as a res ult of human activity may represent a threat to health and reproductiv e efficiency in human and wildlife populations. We show here that pare nteral administration of octylphenol, a recently described environment al oestrogen derived from one group of non-ionic surfactants, is activ e in stimulating oestrogen-dependent uterine growth in prepubertal rat s, but has no influence on perinatal sexual differentiation of the rat brain. These results extend previous in vitro findings to show that a lkylphenols exert weak oestrogenic activity in vivo in mammals.