Female mice were given various endocrine disrupters or estradiol in the drinking water from 14 days before conception up till birth of the young and subsequently mother and young were given the compounds up till 4 weeks of age of the youing. Three different treatment periods were employed, up till conception, up till birth and up till 28 days after birth.
MEHP (100 _M, 500 _M, 1 mM) and Zearalenone (4 mg/l, 12 mg/l, 20 mg/l) did not cause consistent, dose dependent effects. However, Bisphenol A (0,4 _g/l, 500 _g/l, 50mg/l, 200mg/l), Lindane (50mg/l, 100mg/l, 200mg/l) and estradiol (20 _g/l, 40 _g/l, 0,16mg/l) all caused increased numbers of apoptotic cells after the longest treatment but also when the treatment was stopped at birth indicating longterm effects. After treatment with Lindane and estradiol germ cell apoptosis caused a significant shrinkage of the tubule diameter after the longest exposure period. Finally, bisphenol A and lindane both caused a doubling of the number of diploid spermatids after the longest treatment period and the highest dose and estradiol even after all three doses.