Organizational and Activational Effects of Phytoestrogens on the Reproductive Tract of the Ewe

Abstract

Ewes exposed to phytoestrogens may display two forms of infertility, categorized as temporary or permanent. Temporary infertility results from actions of estrogen that are similar to the activational effects of estrogen in most species of mammals. The permanent infertility results from changes to the cervix which are analogous to the organizational effects of estrogen reported in other species treated during organogenesis. However, in the ewe these effects may be produced after organogenesis by prolonged treatment during adult life. It has recently become apparent that the level of nutrition and metabolic hormones influence the degree of uteruslike histological change in the cervix produced by prolonged treatment with estrogen. It is hypothesized that, under some nutritional conditions, the hormonal milieu in adult ewes may simulate hormonal patterns that are normally experienced by fetal lambs in utero, thereby allowing the cervix of the adult ewe to give an organizational response to estrogen.