Effect of BPA on testosterone secretion by human fetal testes.

<p>One testis per fetus (between 6.5 and 10.5 gestational week) was cut in different pieces that were cultured as separated explants in different wells (4 to 12 wells according to the age of the fetus). After 24 h of culture in control medium (D0), half of the explants were cultured in the absence (control) and the other half in the presence of BPA at concentrations ranging from 10⁻¹² M to 10⁻⁵ M for 3 days (D1 to D3). The daily testosterone secretion in treated and untreated samples was measured by radioimmunoassay and the values at D1 to D3 were normalized to the D0 secretion of the same well. The D1 to D3 mean normalized secretion of treated samples are expressed as the percentage of that of the controls (untreated samples). Means ± SEM of these percentages from n fetuses are presented. n = 5 for 10⁻¹² M BPA, n = 7−8 for the other BPA concentrations. *p<0.05, ** p<0.01 in the statistical comparison between BPA-treated and control testes using the the Wilcoxon’s non-parametric paired test.