In higher vertebrates, estrogen can exert an organizational effect on sexually dimorphic areas of the central nervous system (CNS) during the perinatal phase of development. The possibility that estrogenic pollutants may mimic estrogen action on the CNS during development and produce long-lasting or irreversible effects is an issue of great concern. Bisphenol A (BPA), a compound widely used in the food industry and in dentistry, has proven estrogenic actions. To study its potential developmental effects on behavior, we gave female Sprague-Dawley rats 40 microg/kg/day BPA from conception to weaning postnatal day 21 and 400 microg/kg/day BPA from gestation day 14 to postnatal day 6. After exposure, we studied social behavior in a play situation in juvenile male and female offspring. The attempt to use play behavior to study the effects of BPA yielded some interesting results. We observed an early action of BPA on several behavioral categories in both males and females. In particular we observed a masculinization of female behavior in two behavioral categories (play with females and sociosexual exploration), an effect probably mediated by the estrogenic activity of BPA in the CNS. These long-lasting effects of BPA could have important consequences at individual and population levels.
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机译:在高等脊椎动物中,雌激素可以在围产期的发育过程中对中枢神经系统(CNS)的性二形区发挥组织作用。雌激素污染物可能在发育过程中模仿雌激素对中枢神经系统的作用,并产生长期或不可逆转的影响,这是一个非常令人关注的问题。双酚A(BPA)是一种广泛用于食品工业和牙科领域的化合物,已证明具有雌激素作用。为了研究其对行为的潜在发育影响,我们从怀孕到出生后第21天断奶给雌性Sprague-Dawley大鼠40 microg / kg /天BPA,从妊娠第14天到出生后第6天给了400 microg / kg /天BPA。我们研究了青少年男女后代在游戏环境中的社会行为。使用游戏行为来研究BPA效果的尝试产生了一些有趣的结果。我们观察到BPA在男性和女性的几种行为类别上的早期作用。特别是,我们观察到两种行为类型(与女性玩耍和进行社会性探索)中女性行为的男性化,这种影响可能是由中枢神经系统中BPA的雌激素活性介导的。 BPA的这些持久影响可能在个人和人口层面产生重要影响。
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