Effect of prenatal and neonatal exposure to lead on gonadotropin receptors and steroidogenesis in rat ovaries.

Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with lead chloride (20 or 200 ppm) or sodium chloride (controls) in their drinking water, either prior to pregnancy or during pregnancy and lactation, and female offspring were examined at weaning (21 d) or at 150 d. Other female rats were treated from d 21 to 35. Tissue (blood, kidney, bone) lead levels, body, ovary, and uterus weights, ovarian steroidogenesis, and gonadotropin (luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone) levels, and gonadotropin-receptor binding were determined. Prenatal and/or postnatal exposure to lead at these levels (20 and 200 ppm) did not affect tissue weights but did cause a significant decrease in gonadotropin-receptor binding in the prepubertal, pubertal and adult females. Conversion of progesterone to androstenedione and dihydrotestosterone was significantly decreased in 21-d-old rats; in 150-d-old females, the prenatal and/or postnatal exposure to lead resulted in significantly increased conversion to the 5-alpha-reduced steroids, normally high during puberty. The results demonstrate that lead exposure prior to mating may affect gonadotropin-receptor binding in the offspring and that lead exposure (in utero, via mother's milk, or post weaning) may significantly alter steroid production and gonadotropin binding in ovaries of the prepubertal, pubertal, and adult female.