Prenatal BPA Exposure and Meotic Disturbances in Mice

A new study was published online this weekend that may lend support to the argument against using bisphenol A (BPA) in plastics. BPA is a chemical used in water bottles and packaging for consumer products that helps to make the plastic rigid.  Over the past few years, concerns have arisen over the amount of BPA that leaches into our food and beverages, and what effects ingestion of those concentrations have on our bodies. BPA is known to be an endocrine disruptor, meaning it interferes with normal hormone activities in our bodies.

A research team from Washington State University used a mouse model to study the effects of BPA on the reproductive system of developing embryos, in exposed mothers. The paper is presented in the journal Biology of Reproduction. The team began by validating their genomic array protocol for studying the expression of genes involved in meosis. They then used their array method on normal mice and knockouts, to demonstrate that doses of BPA considered equivalent to what humans are exposed to, can result in down-regulation of genes involved in cell division, in the ovaries of mouse embryos. This means that, while the offspring of the exposed mice may seem unaffected, THEIR offspring could suffer mutational or epigenetic consequences.

How Genes were Discovered

The Human Genome Project

_Source:

_{Lawson, S. et al. 2010. Exposure to low doses of BPA alters gene expression in the fetal mouse ovary. Biology of Reproduction, published online August 25, 2010. doi:10.1095/biolreprod.110.084814.}