Journal
TOXICOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 140, Issue 1, Pages 190-203Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfu074
Keywords
brain; endocrine disruptor; endocrine disruption; hypothalamus; development; subchronic exposure; sexually dimorphic; ethinyl estradiol; bisphenol A
Categories
Funding
- National Toxicology Program (NTP) [C10034]
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [FDA IAG: 224-12-0003, NIEHS IAG: AES12013]
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)/National Institutes of Health [FDA IAG: 224-12-0003, NIEHS IAG: AES12013]
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Concerns have been raised regarding the long-term impacts of early life exposure to the ubiquitous environmental contaminant bisphenol A (BPA) on brain organization. Because BPA has been reported to affect estrogen signaling, and steroid hormones play a critical role in brain sexual differentiation, there is also concern that BPA exposure could alter neural sex differences. Here, we examine the impact of subchronic exposure from gestation to adulthood to oral doses of BPA below the current no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of 5 mg/kg body weight (bw)/day on estrogen receptor (ESR) expression in sexually dimorphic brain regions of prepubertal and adult female rats. The dams were gavaged daily with vehicle (0.3% carboxymethylcellulose), 2.5, 25, 260, or 2700 mu g BPA/kg bw/day, or 0.5 or 5.0 mu g ethinyl estradiol (EE)/kg bw/day from gestational day 6 until labor began. Offspring were then gavaged directly from the day after birth until the day before scheduled sacrifice on postnatal days 21 or 90. Using in situ hybridization, one or more BPA doses produced significant decreases in Esr1 expression in the juvenile female rat anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV) of the hypothalamus and significant decreases in Esr2 expression in the adult female rat AVPV and medial preoptic area (MPOA), relative to vehicle controls. BPA did not simply reproduce EE effects, indicating that BPA is not acting solely as an estrogen mimic. The possible consequences of long-term changes in hypothalamic ESR expression resulting from subchronic low dose BPA exposure on neuroendocrine effects are discussed and being addressed in ongoing, related work.
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