Prenatal bisphenol-A exposure altered exploratory and anxiety-like behaviour and induced non-monotonic, sex-specific changes in the cortical expression of CYP19A1, BDNF and intracellular signaling proteins in F1 rats.

In this study, pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to BPA through water (25 μg/L, 250 μg/L, and 2.5 mg/L) during gestation day (GD) 9-21. Prenatal BPA exposure, increased anxiety-like behaviour in males and decreased exploratory behaviour in both male and female offspring. Downregulation of both BDNF and CYP19A1 genes were observed in male BPA-exposed offspring, whereas in females, the expression was upregulated. The expression of p-AKT, p-MEK and p-ERK proteins were increased in males, while in females, it decreased. Both the male and the female BPA-exposed offspring exhibited elevated levels of DNMT1 protein. The sex-specific alteration in the expression of CYP19A1 and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) suggests that both hormonal and epigenetic dysregulation could underlie the long-term BPA-induced effect on anxiety-like behaviour in the offspring. PMID: 32450286 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Food and Chemical Toxicology - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Food Chem Toxicol Source Type: research