We investigated whether neonatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) induces the alteration of mRNA expression in adult mouse epididymis, which plays an important role in sperm maturation. Using a cDNA subtraction method, we isolated 15 changed gene clones in neonatally DES-treated mouse epididymides, and we found a clone homologous with a disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM) 7 in the epididymis, as a suppressed gene, by means of neonatal DES treatment in 8-week-old mice. Indeed, it was confirmed by Northern blot analysis that the ADAM7 mRNA expression in the epididymis was at a lower level in neonatally DES-treated mice than in non-treated mice. Moreover, in situ hybridization analysis and real-time reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) revealed that ADAM7 expression was markedly reduced in the corpus region of the epididymis of DES-treated mice as compared with non-treated mice. Our results suggest that neonatal exposure to DES leads to the suppression of ADAM7 expression in the epididymis in the long term. ADAM7 gene expression might be a biological marker of fetal or neonatal exposure to estrogenic compounds, including endocrine disruptors.
Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.