zearalenone and Metaplasia

Newborn female mice were injected daily for 5 days with 1 microgram zearalenone (Z, a weakly estrogenic mycotoxin present in cereal grains), resulting in ovary-dependent reproductive tract alterations at 8 months of age. Corpora lutea were absent from 25 of 34 (74%) Z-treated mice, indicating ovarian dysfunction. Fifty-six percent of Z-treated mice had dense collagen deposition in the uterine stroma and lacked uterine glands. Squamous metaplasia of the uterine luminal epithelium was found in 59% of Z-treated mice, and altered vaginal epithelium was found in 32% (2 mice had dysplastic lesions). Ovariectomized Z-treated mice were indistinguishable from ovariectomized controls.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Epithelium; Female; Genitalia, Female; Metaplasia; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mycotoxins; Ovariectomy; Ovary; Resorcinols; Uterus; Vagina; Zearalenone