The effects of anemia on the timing of pubertal onset in female rats.

Abstract

Attainment of vaginal patency is an endpoint for the onset of puberty in female animals in toxicity studies. It is widely acknowledged that certain substances with endocrine-modulating effects can influence the timing of puberty in female rats and that factors unrelated to endocrine mechanisms, such as malnutrition and stress, can also affect pubertal onset. Some epidemiological studies have also suggested a link between anemia and delay in pubertal onset in women, however, little is known regarding the relation between hematological changes and female pubertal onset in experimental animals. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of anemia during the prepubertal period on pubertal onset and reproductive organs in female rats. In this study, anemia was induced by drawing a certain amount of blood from the jugular vein or by intraperitoneal administration of phenylhydrazine, a well-known inducer of hemolytic anemia. As a result, both treatment groups showed a transient anemia characterized by an approximately 20-35% decrease in hemoglobin levels compared to the control group. Anemia in these female rats produced no obvious changes in body weight on each postnatal day and had no effect on the weights and histopathology of reproductive organs after sexual differentiation, but the age at vaginal opening (VO) was delayed and the body weight at VO was higher than the same parameters in the control group. These results suggest that anemia in prepubertal females could cause a delay in pubertal onset.