ABSTRACT
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals generally function as steroid receptor signaling antagonists
or agonists that influence development to promote adult-onset disease. Exposure to
the endocrine disruptors during the initiation of male reproductive tract development
interferes with the normal hormonal signaling and formation of male reproductive organs.
In particular, exposure to the endocrine disruptor vinclozolin promotes transgenerational
transmission of adult-onset disease states such as male infertility, increased frequencies
of tumors, prostate disease, kidney diseases, and immune abnormalities that develop
as males age. An epigenetic change in the germ line would be involved in the transgenerational
transmission of these induced phenotypes. Nevertheless, other studies have also reported
transgenerational transmission of induced epigenetic changes, without altering the
germ line. Here we propose a nomenclature to help clarify both cases of transgenerational
epigenetic transmission. An intrinsic epigenetic transgenerational process would require a germ-line involvement, a permanent alteration in the germ cell epigenome,
and only one exposure to the environmental factor. An extrinsic epigenetic transgenerational process would involve an epigenetic alteration in a somatic tissue and require exposure at
each generation to maintain the transgenerational phenotype.
KEYWORDS
Transgenerational - epigenetic - endocrine disruptors - germ line - DNA methylation
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Michael K Skinner
Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Molecular Biosciences
Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4231
eMail: skinner@wsu.edu
