Evaluation of the Effects of Paternal Drug/Chemical Exposure on the Offspring

A number of different approaches to the study of the effects of male‐mediated drug or chemical insult on the subsequent offspring have been used. Typically a modified dominant lethal protocol has been used with the offspring allowed to go to term and the functional development assessed at specific postnatal ages. The present review examines the importance of the mating times for identification of the stages of spermatogenesis most sensitive to insult and the possible mechanisms involved in male‐mediated transmission of the effect of toxic exposure to the offspring. The functional assessments demonstrating a paternal‐mediation of drug and/or chemical exposure have included motor coordination, reflexive behavior, locomotor activity and associative learning. The importance of the mating sequence, assessment methods and interpretation alternatives must be considered in designing studies to identify the extent of the risk to the male genome of drug/chemical exposure as reflected in functional deficits to the subsequent offspring.