Treadmill exercise partially attenuates bisphenol A-associated behavioral alterations with coordinated multi-omics...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Neuroscience
• Microbiome Research

Background:

• Environmental chemical exposure, such as to bisphenol A (BPA), can impact behavior.
• The potential for lifestyle interventions, like exercise, to mitigate these effects is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how treadmill exercise affects behavioral and physiological changes induced by chronic BPA exposure in mice.
• To explore multi-level physiological alterations, including gut microbiota, serum metabolites, and hippocampal gene expression.

Main Methods:

• Male mice underwent chronic oral BPA exposure (200 μg/kg/day for 90 days) with or without treadmill exercise.
• Behavioral assessments included the eight-arm radial maze (spatial memory) and open field test (exploratory/anxiety-like behavior).
• Multi-level analyses involved gut microbiota sequencing, serum metabolomics, hippocampal transcriptomics, and Western blot.

Main Results:

• BPA exposure impaired spatial memory and reduced exploratory behavior, but did not significantly alter locomotor activity.
• Treadmill exercise partially reversed BPA-induced behavioral deficits.
• Coordinated changes in gut microbiota, serum metabolites, and hippocampal gene expression were observed, with exercise shifting patterns toward control levels.

Conclusions:

• Treadmill exercise can partially attenuate BPA-induced impairments in spatial memory and exploratory behavior.
• These behavioral improvements are associated with coordinated shifts in microbial, metabolic, and hippocampal transcriptional profiles.
• Specific microbial-metabolite-gene patterns, like Rikenellaceae-taurocholic acid-Cdkn1a, may be key mediators of BPA's effects and exercise's benefits.