title: Does preconception paternal exposure to a physiologically relevant level of bisphenol A alter spatial memory in an adult rat?
abstract: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a ubiquitous environmental endocrine disrupting compound (EDC); public health concerns have been fueled by findings that maternal BPA exposure can change sex differences in the brain and in some behaviors. We investigated whether a physiologically relevant dose of BPA ingested by male rats before conception would affect spatial memory and hippocampal acetylcholinesterase (AchE) in their adult offspring. Twenty-two 60-day-old male rats (F0) received either a BPA diet (50 μg/kg/day) or vehicle alone for 10 weeks before being mated with non-exposed females. The paternal rats and their forty adult offspring's (F1) behaviors were then examined in the Morris Water Maze (MWM) and their AchE activities in the hippocampus were evaluated. BPA exposure led to spatial memory deficits along with decreased AchE activities in the hippocampus (p = 0.01) in adult F0 rats. This paternal exposure also induced impairment in spatial memory acquisition in both sexes while retention only in females in F1 rats, as well as abolished sex differences in the hippocampus AchE. Overall, these data provide new evidence that paternal BPA exposure, at a "safe" dose, may induce transgenerational alterations in spatial memory in a sex-specific manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China; Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China. Electronic address: yfan@hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Shibin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Xiaolei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manyande
authors.forename: Dongliang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Nana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Huiqin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Shunqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Chenjiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ying
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001559:Benzhydryl Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D018812:Paternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D010636:Phenols / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012737:Sex Factors; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D000098826:Bisphenol A Compounds
chemical_list: D001559:Benzhydryl Compounds; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D010636:Phenols; C006780:bisphenol A; D000098826:Bisphenol A Compounds
keywords: Acetylcholinesterase; Bisphenol A; Low dose; Paternal exposure; Water maze