Environmental contaminants with estrogenic properties increased the concern about their possible role in inducing adverse health effects. Brief exposure of rodents to high doses of natural estrogens in early life results in permanent alterations of the male reproductive organs, but the question of whether environmentally relevant doses can cause the same effects remains controversial (Putz et al., 2001).
Many reports in the literature demonstrated that exposure of the fetal, neonatal male rodent and/or human to exogenous estrogenic compounds (estradiol, ethinyl estradiol, or diethylstilbestrol) can cause a range of abnormalities of the reproductive system including atrophic/small testes, epididymal cysts, abnormalities of the rete testis, delayedpuberty, etc. (Arai et at, 1983; Newbold et al., 1985; Gaytan et at, 1986; Toppari et al., 1996).