Relationship between tobacco smoke and uterotropic effect of estrogen

Female rats aged 3.-3.5 months were daily exposed for 2 h to 2.25% tobacco smoke in a 20-liter chamber for 3 weeks. A week after the beginning of the experiments, all rats were subjected to bilateral oophorectomy. Some of them were injected with estradiol in a daily dose of 2 μg or diethylstilbestrol in a daily dose of 1 μg for 10 days. Tobacco smoke exposure led to an increase in the uterus weight in oophorectomized rats, and combined exposure to tobacco smoke and estrogens resulted in an increase in the proportion of intact (twisted) DNA in the uterus. These results can be explained by a relatively short term of tobacco smoke exposure (stimulation stage).[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]