A number of man-made chemicals has been shown to mimic endogenous hormones and to induce alterations of reproductive physiology in wild populations. Of particular importance are compounds that mimic estrogens and androgens (and their antagonists), because of their central role in reproductive function. In this study, male and female adult South African clawed toads (Xenopus laevis) were exposed to ethinylestradiol (EE2), tamoxifen (TAM), methyldihydrotestosterone (MDHT) and flutamide (FLU) as (anti)estrogenic and (anti)androgenic model compounds, respectively, at a concentration of 10(-8) M, and to water from the river Lambro (LAM), a contaminated watercourse from Northern Italy. Potential disrupting effects on reproduction were studied by histological analyses of gonads. The strongest adverse effects were observed in EE2 and LAM exposed males, e.g. tubule mean diameter reduction, spermatogenic nest breakdown and interlobular wall thickening. In both groups, the occurrence of small oocytes within the seminiferous tubules was observed. In TAM and MDHT exposed females slight oocyte atresia and occurrence of spermatogenic nests were observed. In contrast to previous studies addressing the alteration of molecular biomarkers in the same experimental setup, histological analyses of gonads were very sensitive and indicated an adverse effect of water from Lambro River on reproductive physiology of X. laevis.