ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effects of PM2.5 on reproductive hormone levels and pregnancy outcome in female rats.Methods Thirty healthy 4-week old female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the control group (normal saline), low dose of PM2.5(1.5 mg/kg) group and high dose of PM2.5 (37.5 mg/kg) group.After the blood samples were collected, the animals were exposed to PM2.5for 10 days, and then the rats were mated.On the 19th day of pregnancy, the rats were sacrificed for pregnancy outcome observation and blood samples were collected for hormone test.The blood hormone levels were detected using an ELISA kit.Results The live fetus rates in the control, low dose PM2.5 and high dose PM2.5 groups were 90.77%, 59.49% and 60.27%, respectively (P0.05), the level of FSH in the high dose group was significantly decreased (P<0.05).Conclusions PM2.5may affect pregnancy outcome through influencing the hormone levels.