Oral Presentation ESA-SRB-APEG-NZSE 2022

Defining the Impact of Endocrine Disruptors on Reproductive Health (#264)

Andrew Pask 1
  1. University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

Reproductive health is rapidly declining with differences in sexual development (DSDs) now some of the most common abnormalities seen at birth. Many of these DSD are attributed to impacts to the normal development and hormonal output from the developing fetal gonad. In particular, the rapid rise in male DSDs and concomitant drops in male fertility have occurred too quickly to be caused by gene mutations. Instead, these diseases must have their origins in the environment. Many DSDs can now be at least partially attributed to our exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which impact hormonal signalling within our bodies. In my lab we have sought to understand the normal hormonal pathways directing reproductive development and examined how EDCs disrupt these to cause disease. We have uncovered novel roles for hormones and disturbingly broad impacts of EDCs in developmental abnormalities and disease legacies that can persist even into unexposed generations.