Abstract
Whether environmental exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may induce reproductive disorders is still controversial but certain studies have reported that BPA may cause meiotic abnormalities in C. elegans and female mice. However, little is known about the effect of BPA on meiosis in adult males. To determine whether BPA exposure at an environmentally relevant dose could induce meiotic abnormalities in adult male rats, we exposed 9-week-old male Wistar rats to BPA by gavage at 20 μg/kg body weight (bw)/day for 60 consecutive days. We found that BPA significantly increased the proportion of stage VII seminiferous epithelium and decreased the proportion of stage VIII. Consequently, spermiation was inhibited and spermatogenesis was disrupted. Further investigation revealed that BPA exposure delayed meiosis initiation in the early meiotic stage and induced the accumulation of chromosomal abnormalities and meiotic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in the late meiotic stage. The latter event subsequently activated the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related protein kinase (ATM). Our results suggest that long-term exposure to BPA may lead to continuous meiotic abnormalities and ultimately put mammalian reproductive health at risk.
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Abbreviations
- ATM:
-
Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated
- ATR:
-
Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated and Rad3-related
- BPA:
-
Bisphenol A
- DSBs:
-
DNA double-strand breaks
- DAPI:
-
4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole
- MSUC:
-
Meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin
- PI:
-
Propidium iodide
- PAS:
-
Periodic acid-Schiff
- SCP3:
-
Synaptonemal complex protein 3
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Acknowledgments
We thank Ms. Min Li and Mr. Ju Yang for their skillful technical assistance. This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (National 973 Program; Grant No. 2011CB503700) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31170800).
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Liu, C., Duan, W., Zhang, L. et al. Bisphenol A exposure at an environmentally relevant dose induces meiotic abnormalities in adult male rats. Cell Tissue Res 355, 223–232 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-013-1723-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-013-1723-6