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Published on: March 6, 2018
Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A impairs sexual differentiation of exploratory behavior and increases depression-like
Tetsuya Fujimoto1, Kazuhiko Kubo, Shuji Aou
1Department of Brain Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Hibikino2-4, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu 808-0196, Japan. fujimoto-tetsuya@edu.brain.kyutech.ac.jp
Insights
Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) during the final week of gestation disrupts sexual differentiation in male rats. This exposure impacts exploratory and emotional behaviors, potentially facilitating depression-like symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Neuroscience
- Toxicology
Background:
- Perinatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) can interfere with normal development.
- The critical developmental window for BPA's effects on sexual differentiation of behavior remains incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of prenatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure during the final week of gestation on behavioral development in rats.
- To determine if BPA exposure affects exploratory, emotional, and learning behaviors, and if it alters sex differences in these behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Pregnant rats received 0.1 ppm BPA in drinking water during the last week of gestation.
- Offspring were assessed for exploratory (open-field test), anxiety-like (elevated plus maze), learning (passive avoidance), and depression-like (forced swimming test) behaviors from 6-9 weeks of age.
Main Results:
- Prenatal BPA exposure primarily affected male rats, abolishing sex differences in rearing behavior (open-field) and struggling behavior (forced swimming).
- Male rats exposed to BPA exhibited increased immobility in the forced swimming test, suggesting facilitated depression-like behavior.
- Avoidance learning and elevated plus maze behaviors were not significantly affected by the prenatal BPA exposure.
Conclusions:
- The final week of the prenatal period is a sensitive window for bisphenol A (BPA) exposure in male rats.
- Prenatal BPA exposure disrupts the sexual differentiation of specific behaviors, including rearing and struggling.
- BPA exposure during this critical prenatal period may contribute to the facilitation of depression-like behaviors in male offspring.
Abstract:
Perinatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA, 0.1 and 1 ppm in drinking water applied to mother rats for 6 weeks) has been shown to impair the sexual differentiation in exploratory behavior, but the exact critical period of this disrupting effect is still unknown. In this study, we examined the effects of prenatal exposure to BPA (0.1 ppm in drinking water applied to dams during the final week of pregnant) on emotional and learning behaviors in addition to exploratory behavior. Estimated daily intake was 15 microg/kg/day, below the reference dose (RfD) in the United States and the daily tolerable intake (TDI) in Japan (50 microg/kg/day). The rats were successively tested in open-field test, elevated plus maze test, passive avoidance test and forced swimming test during development from 6 to 9 weeks of juvenile period. Prenatal exposure to BPA mainly affected male rats and abolished sex differences in rearing behavior in the open-field test and struggling behavior in the forced swimming test. BPA increased the immobility of male rats in the forced swimming test. The avoidance learning and behaviors in the elevated plus maze were not affected. The present study demonstrates that male rats at the final week of prenatal period are sensitive to BPA, which impairs sexual differentiation in rearing and struggling behavior and facilitate depression-like behavior.
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