On January 16, 2015 the University of Cincinnati (UC) published a news article reporting on a new study showing that bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) can affect heart function and blood pressure in male and female mice, with females being at a higher risk of damage. In the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Endocrinology, the team of UC researchers exposed mice to BPA through food. BPA exposures ranged from four to 5,000 μg/kg body weight/day. The dose range was selected to make the study findings valuable for assessing risks to public health. The highest exposure dose was just below the no observed adverse effect level, whereas the lowest dose was below what is considered a safe level and approached BPA levels humans are exposed to, explained study’s first author Scott Belcher. BPA exposure related changes in the control of heart rate and blood pressure were detected in both male and female mice. However, the researchers further performed pharmacological experiments to mimic damage that might occur during a heart attack. Unlike for males, female mice exposed to BPA experienced a severe increase in the sensitivity to cardiotoxic damage. Belcher stresses that this finding is unusual since females are typically protected. Results from experimental animal models are informative and instructive, however, we shall not forget that there are differences between mice and humans, Belcher cautions.
Read more
University of Cincinnati (January 16, 2015). “BPA exposure affects heart health of males and females differently in mice.”
Reference
Belcher, S.M. et al. (2015). “Bisphenol A alters autonomic tone and extracellular matrix structure and induces sex-specific effects on cardiovascular function in male and female CD-1 mice.” Endocrinology (published online January 16, 2015).
