Journal of Infertility and Reproductive Biology, 2014, Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages: 101-107 101 Altered male reproduction in rats exposed perinatally to biochanin-A M. G. S. Soujanya 1 , K. Pratap Redddy 2 , P. Ramachandra Reddy 1 *, P. Sreenivasula Reddy 2 1. Department of Biochemistry, Yogi Vemana University, Vemanapuram, Kadapa – 516 003, A.P. India 2. Department of Zoology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati – 516 003, A.P. India Abstract Phytoestrogens are the plant extract compounds, primarily isoflavones that mimic or modulate endogenous estrogens, usually by binding to estrogen receptors. Biochanin- A (BC-A) is an isoflavone found in red clover and is a selective agonist of estrogen receptor-β (ER-β) and have the capacity to alter functioning of male reproduction. The present study focused on the changes of reproduction in male rats exposed to BC-A during the perinatal period. Normal adult male and female rats were co-habitated and the pregnant female rats were injected with 25mg, 50mg and 100 mg BC-A/Kg body weight on window period 12 th , 14 th , 16 th and 18 th day. Rats were allowed to deliver the pups and the BC-A exposure was continued up to weaning period. After weaning male and female pups were separated and maintained in separate cages in a dose wise manner. To check the reproductive performance of adult males (90 days old) exposed perinatally to BC-A are co-habited with sexually mature normal females. Female rats were sacrificed by cervical dis-location and autopsy was performed on 8 th and 19 th day of gestation. Uterus and ovaries were examined for the numbers of corpora lutea, implantations, dead, live foetuses, resorptions and fetal weight. Significant increase was noticed in the conception time, pre and post implantation loss (p<0.0001) and decrease in the number of implantations (p<0.0001). Further observed significant decrease in fertility rate as measured by counting numbers of live fetuses (p<0.005) and resorptions (p<0.05) in the females mated with males exposed to BC-A. Females mated with BC-A exposed males were shown significant reduction (p<0.0001) in resorptions, and significant decrease (p<0.05) in fetal weight and number of live fetuses per rat. The present study elucidated the significance of perinatal BC-A exposure on male reproductive health. Keywords: Biochanin-A, Isoflavonoid, Fertility rate, Implantation loss, Testosterone, Male wistar rats 1. Introduction Consumption of phytoestrogens (also called as endocrine-disrupting chemicals; EDCs) is associated with beneficial health effects and potential adverse effects on development, fertility, reproductive and endocrine system. Hence, in recent year’s interest on undesirable effects of phytoestrogens on male fertility has increased as it has been shown that estrogens play a vital role in the male reproduction (1, 2). Initial reports on soy * Corresponding Address: Dr. P. Ramachandra Reddy, Department of Biochemistry, Yogi Vemana University, Vemanapuram, Kadapa, India. E-mail: reddyprbiotech@gmail.com consumption are found to be beneficial on human health (3) and later found the possible endocrine disrupting properties of isoflavonoids, genistein and daidzein (4). Cao et al. (5) found that the exposure of genistein and daidzein is risky to infants. It is also found that genistein and daidzein also causes infertility in cheetahs (6). Neonatal exposure of genistein and other phytoestrogens are capable of crossing the placenta and might show prospective consequences on adult fertility (7). Exposure of genistein at neonatal stage affects sexual behaviour of adult male rats and an effect likely mediated by ER-β (8, 9).