Superfund Research Program
Testicular Sensitization and Co-Exposure Synergy
Project Leader: Kim Boekelheide
Grant Number: P42ES013660
Funding Period: 2005-2009
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- Project Summary
Project Summary (2005-2009)
Germ cell apoptosis is the final common pathway of injury following exposure to toxicants that target the interacting cell types necessary for successful spermatogenesis. Model toxicants have been developed as functional probes of each of these interacting cell types: 2,5-hexanedione, carbendazim, and mono-(2- ethylhexyl)phthalate target Sertoli cells, ethane-1,2-dimethane sulfonate targets Leydig cells, and xirradiation targets germ cells. Over the past quarter century, many labs have contributed to a rich database describing how each of these model toxicants acts one at a time to produce testicular injury. However, real world exposures, like those occurring at Superfund sites and Brownfields in
- Characterize the dose response and time dependence of 2,5-hexanedione-induced sensitization to carbendazim co-exposure
- Determine the dependence of the co-exposure response to model toxicants in the 2,5-hexanedioneprimed testis on cellular and subcellular targeting
- Use gene chips to obtain molecular fingerprints of testicular sensitization and the model toxicant injury responses to predict co-exposure toxicity.