Relief effect of vitamin A on the decreased motility of sperm and the increased incidence of malformed sperm in mice exposed neonatally to bisphenol A

Administration of 50 mug of bisphenol A (BPA) for the first 5 days after birth resulted in a decrease in the percentage of moving sperm, and an increase in the incidence of malformed sperm, in the epididymides of mice at 10 weeks of age, although no marked changes were found in the testicular histology between BPA-treated and vehicle-treated control mice. The deteriorating effects of 50 mug of BPA were ameliorated by the concurrent administration of 100 IU of retinol acetate (RA). Neonatal treatment with 0.5 mug of BPA for 5 days resulted in an increase in the incidence of malformed sperm, whereas the BPA effect became more severe in mice nursed by mothers fed a vitamin A-deficient (VAD) diet only a few days before and after parturition. On the other hand, neonatal treatment with 20 mug of estrogen for the first 5 days after birth resulted in an increase in the number of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-positive cells in the epithelium of the vas deferens, whereas only a few epithelial cells showed weak ERalpha-positive signals in the vehicle-treated control mice at 18 days after birth. This increase, however, was suppressed by the concurrent administration of RA. Although five daily treatments with 50 mug BPA led to no significant increase in the number of ERa-positive cells, it may have been due to the weak estrogenic activity of BPA, as discussed. These findings clearly showed that in mice, neonatal exposure to a relatively large dose of BPA causes damage to the motility and morphology of sperm, but the BPA effect is, to some extent, inhibited by a supplement of VA, and enhanced under a VAD condition.