Long-term effects of environmentally relevant doses of 2,2',4,4',5,5' hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB153) on neurobehavioural development, health and spontaneous behaviour in maternally exposed mice

Table 3 Group size, body weight and hepatosomatic index for male and female offspring

Gender	Group	N	BW PND21	BW Week16	HSI Week16
female	Fish Control	3	16.9 ± 0.5	29.9 ± 1.1	4.97 ± 0.14^a
	Casein High PCB	6	13.0 ± 1.1	25.5 ± 0.8	4.36 ± 0.10^b
	Fish High PCB	5	14.9 ± 1.8	25.9 ± 1.3	4.65 ± 0.20^ab
male	Fish Control	3	16.6 ± 1.0	33.0 ± 2.3	4.38 ± 0.20
	Casein High PCB	4	14.0 ± 1.2	30.6 ± 1.1	4.87 ± 0.38
	Fish High PCB	4	17.6 ± 3.1	27.0 ± 1.8	4.65 ± 0.62

The animals were exposed to PCB153 throughout gestation and lactation, via maternal consumption of spiked feeds based on fish or casein. High dose feeds (Fish High PCB and Casein High PCB) contained ~1500 μgPCB153/kg feed. Data are presented as mean ± SEM of offspring that survived to week16.
HSI = Hepatosomatic index, BW = body weight, PND = Postnatal day. Groups with different superscript letters are significantly different, within the same gender (Mann-Whitney U, p < 0.01).

ISSN: 1744-9081