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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Oct 5.
Published in final edited form as: Reproduction. 2021 Oct 5;162(5):F147–F167. doi: 10.1530/REP-20-0592

Table 1.

Phthalate Effects Reported in Mouse, Rat, and Human Fetal Testis Models. The table provides a comprehensive list of reported effects of phthalates on mouse fetal testis and in human fetal testis tissue culture and xenograft models and selected reports on rat fetal testis.

Species / Reference Compound Model Antiandrogenic effects Seminiferous cord effects DYG
T LC # LC GPE MAS MNG GC # SC # SC GPE dcord
Mouse
Gaido et al. (2007) DBP IU NC (1500) ↑ (250) ↑ (250)
van den Driesche et al. (2012b) DBP IU NC (500) NC (500)
Heger et al. (2012) DBP IU NC (500)
Saffarini et al. (2012) DBP IU ↑ (500)
Ungewitter et al. (2017) DEHP IU NC (250) ↓ (5) ↑ (250) ↑ (5) NC (250) ↑↓ (5)
Gaido et al. (2007) MBP IU NC (1000)
Gaido et al. (2007) MEHP IU NC (1000) ↑↓ (500) ↑↓ (500)
Muczynski et al. (2012) MEHP IU ↓ (720)
Lehraiki et al. (2009) MEHP EV ↑↓ (200 μM) NC (200 μM) ↑↓ (200 μM) ↑ (200 μM) ↓ (20 μM)
Muczynski et al. (2012) MEHP EV ↓ (10 μM)
Heger et al. (2012) DBP XG NC (500) NC (500)* ↑ (250) NC (500)
Human
Habert et al. (2014) MEHP EV NC (100 μM)
Lambrot et al. (2009) MEHP EV NC (100 μM) NC (100 μM) ↓ (100 μM) NC (100 μM) ↑ (100 μM)
Muczynski et al. (2012) MEHP EV ↓ (20 μM)
Mitchell et al. (2012) DBP XG NC (500) NC (500)
Heger et al. (2012) DBP XG NC (500) ↑ (100) NC (500)
Spade et al. (2014) DBP XG NC (500) NC (500) NC (500) ↑ (500)** ↑↓ (500)
Mitchell et al. (2012) MBP XG NC (500) NC (500)
Rat
Spade et al. (2018) BBP IU ↓ (750) ↑ (750)
Wilson et al. (2004) BBP IU ↓ (1000)
Spade et al. (2018) DBP IU ↓ (750) ↑ (750)
Mahood et al. (2005) DBP IU ↑ (500)
Mahood et al. (2007) DBP IU ↑ (100) ↑ (100) ↑ (100)
Mylchreest et al. (2002) DBP IU ↓ (500) ↑ (500) ↑↓ (500) ↑ (500)
Wilson et al. (2004) DBP IU ↓ (1000)
Johnson et al. (2007) DBP IU ↓ (500) ↓ (100) ↓ (500)
Barlow et al. (2003) DBP IU ↑ (500) ↓ (500) ↑ (500)
Shultz et al. (2001) DBP IU ↓ (500) ↓ (500) ↑ (500)
Kuhl et al. (2007) DBP IU ↓ (100) ↓ (100)
Thompson et al. (2005) DBP IU ↓ (500) ↓ (500)
van den Driesche et al. (2012a) DBP IU ↓ (500) ↑ (500) ↓ (500) ↑ (500)
van den Driesche et al. (2012b) DBP IU ↓ (100) ↑ (500) ↑ (20) ↓ (500)
Lara et al. (2017) DBP IU ↑ (750)
Boekelheide et al. (2009) DBP IU ↑ (500) ↑ (100) ↓ (500) ↓ (100)
Kleymenova et al. (2005) DBP IU ↑ (500) ↓ (500)
Spade et al. (2015) DBP IU ↑ (500) ↓ (500) ↓ (500)
Spade et al. (2018) DEHP IU ↓ (750) ↑ (750)
Parks et al. (2000) DEHP IU ↓ (750) ↑ (750) ↑ (750)
Wilson et al. (2004) DEHP IU ↓ (1000) ↓ (750)
Borch et al. (2006) DEHP IU ↓ (300) ↓ (100) ↓ (300)
Spade et al. (2018) DPeP IU ↓ (300) ↑ (300)
Furr et al. (2014) many## IU
Hannas et al. (2012) many## IU
Shono et al. (2000) MBP IU ↓ (1000)
Howdeshell et al. (2015) mixture# IU ↓ (215)*** ↓ (65)
Heger et al. (2012) MBP EV ↓ (250)
Habert et al. (2014) MEHP EV ↓ (10 μM)
Heger et al. (2012) DBP XGt ↓ (500) ↓ (500) ↑ (250) NC (500)
Mitchell et al. (2012) DBP XG NC (500)**** ↓ (500) ↓ (500)

IU, in utero; EV; ex vivo; XG, xenograft; BBP, benzyl butyl phthalate; DBP, di-n-butyl phthalate; DEHP, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate; DPeP, dipentyl phthalate; MBP, mono-n-butyl phthalate; MEHP, mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate; T, testosterone; NC, no change; ↑ increase; ↓ decrease; ↑↓ dose-response was non-monotonic; LC, Leydig cell; GPE, gene and/or protein expression; SC, Sertoli cell; dcord: seminiferous cord diameter; MAS, masculinization, including anogenital distance, testis descent, or weights of accessory sex organs; DYG, dysgenesis, explicitly identified in the manuscript as such and including non-intact seminiferous cords, ectopic cells, or regions lacking discernable seminiferous cord structure. Dysgenesis is classified separately from Leydig cell and cord effects because it involves both compartments and is associated with exposure during the masculinization programming window.

The lowest dose or concentration at which an effect was reported is presented in parentheses (mg/kg/d unless otherwise noted). Some changes listed are approximations of holistic change such as directional changes in “Leydig cell” or “Sertoli cell” genes in transcriptomic studies.

refers to LC numbers and to effects explicitly described as clustering or as Leydig cell hyperplasia

refers to GC number or apoptosis

#

Exposure consisted of a mixture of BBP, DBP, DEHP, diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), and DPeP.

##

Paper reports dose-response data for many phthalates. No specific effect doses are listed in the table.

*

1 of 5 genes decreased significantly.

**

Reported with p=0.051.

***

Calculated based on the ED50 as a percent of the maximum mixture dose.

****

Reported with p=0.062.