Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: Prepubertal exposures and effects on sexual maturation and thyroid activity in the female rat. A focus on the EDSTAC recommendations

In 1996, the US Environmental Protection Agency was given a mandate by Cong ress to develop a screening program that would evaluate whether variously i dentified compounds could affect human health by mimicking or interfering w ith normal endocrine regulatory functions. Toward this end, the Agency char tered the Endocrine Disrupter Screening and Testing Advisory Committee in O ctober of that year that would serve to recommend a series of in vitro and in vivo protocols designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of a chemi cal's potential endocrine-disrupting activity. A number of these protocols have undergone subsequent modification by EPA, and this review focuses spec ifically on the revised in vivo screening procedure recommended under the t itle Research Protocol for Assessment of Pubertal Development and Thyroid F unction in Juvenile Female Rats. Background literature has been provided th at summarizes what is currently known about pubertal development in the fem ale rat and the influence of various forms of pharmaceutical and toxicologi cal insult on this process and on thyroid activity. Finally, a section is i ncluded that discusses technical issues that should be considered if the sp ecified pubertal endpoints are to be measured and successfully evaluated.