2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC), can cause carcinogenesis, immunosuppression, and teratogenesis, through a ligand-activated transcription factor, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Despite remarkable recent advances in stem cell biology, the influence of TCDD on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which possess the ability to reconstitute long-term multilineage hematopoiesis, has not been well investigated. In this study we examined the influence of TCDD on HSCs enriched for CD34(-), c-kit(+), Sca-1(+), lineage negative (CD34-KSL) cells. The number of the CD34-KSL cells was found to be increased about four-fold upon a single oral administration of TCDD (40 micro g/kg body weight). Surprisingly, we found that these TCDD-treated cells almost lost long-term reconstitution activity. This defect was not present in AhR(-/-) mice. These findings suggest that modulation of AhR/ARNT system activity may have an effect on HSC function or survival.