Table 3.

Significant effects on the reproductive/development system resulting from exposure to particle filtered diesel exhaust (fDE) or whole diesel exhaust (wDE) relative to filtered air exposure (arrows indicate direction of effect and statistical significance at α < 0.05; dashes indicate no statistically significant effect observed). NR = not reported; FSH = follicle stimulating hormone; 3β-HSD =3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase; StAR = steroidogenic acute regulatory protein; hCG = human chorionic gonadotropin.

Reproductive/Developmental System
PM μg/m³		NO₂ (ppm)		Species	Sex	Duration	Effect	fDE	wDE	Author	Year
fDE	wDE	fDE	wDE	Species	Sex	Duration	Effect	fDE	wDE	Author	Year
3.1	148.86	0.51	0.53	Fischer rats	Male (in utero exposure)	5 hr/day on days 1–19 of gestation	Serum testosterone	↓	↓	Li et al.	2009
							Serum progesterone and FSH	↓	↓
							Inhibin	↑	↑
							Gene expression of 3β-HSD and StAR in testes	↓	↓
							Gene expression of FSH receptor in testes	-	↑
							Relative weight of seminal vesicle and prostate	↓	↓
NR	1730	NR	0.79	Fischer rats	Male (in utero exposure)	6 hr/day from day 7 of gestation until delivery	Serum testosterone	↑	↑	Watanabe & Ohsawa	2002
NR	1730	NR	0.79	Fischer rats	Male (in utero exposure)	6 hr/day from day 7 of gestation until delivery	Relative spleen and thymus weight	↓	↓	Watanabe & Ohsawa	2002
0.69	41.7 (low), 152 (high)	0.53	0.16 (low), 0.54 (high)	C57BL/Jcl mice	Male	5 hr/day, 5 day/week, for 8 weeks	Testosterone in serum and hCG-stimulated Leydig cells	-	↑	Li et al.	2012
0.69	41.7 (low), 152 (high)	0.53	0.16 (low), 0.54 (high)	C57BL/Jcl mice	Male	5 hr/day, 5 day/week, for 8 weeks	Upregulated testosterone biosynthesis genes	-	↑	Li et al.	2012
3.1	38 (low), 149 (high)	0.51	0.17 (low), 0.53 (high)	Fischer rats	Male	5 hr/day, 5 day/week, for 1, 2, or 3 months	Testosterone in testes (3-m)	↓	-	Yamagishi et al.	2012
							Testosterone in plasma and testes (1-m)	-	↑
							Androstenedione (1-m)	-	↑
3.1	148.9	NR	NR	Fischer rats	Female	5 hr/day on days 1–19 of gestation	Maternal progesterone	↓	↓	Li et al.	2013
							Maternal luteinizing hormone and corticosterone	↑	↑
							Estradiol	↑	-
							Corpus luteum gene expression	→	→
							Fetal body weight and length	→	→
							Maternal relative spleen and liver weight	↓	↓
NR	170 (low), 1710 (high)	0.1 (low), 0.8 (high)	0.1 (low), 0.79 (high)	Fischer rats	Male (in utero exposure)	6 hr/day from day 7 of gestation until delivery	FSH levels	↑	↑	Watanabe	2005
							Sperm production, spermatids, Sertoli cells	↓	↓
							Spermatogonia	↓	-