Gurmeet Kss, Rosnah I, Normadiah M K, Das Srijit, Mustafa A M
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
EXCLI J. 2014 Feb 18;13:151-60. eCollection 2014.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in manufacturing industries. It is commonly detected in the environment and was reported to exert oestrogenic effects which may be harmful to the reproductive system. The present study was carried out to observe the effects of oral administration of BPA on the development of the reproductive organs and plasma sex hormone levels in prepubertal male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Prepubertal male SD rats (n=8 in each group) were administered BPA in the doses of 1, 5, 10 and 100 mg/kg BW (body weight) via oral gavage for a period of 6 weeks. The control animals received the vehicle for BPA (Tween 80 in distilled water). Following 6 weeks of BPA exposure, the rats exhibited less evidence of spermatogenesis. There was seminiferous epithelial damage which included disruption of intercellular junctions and sloughing of germ cells into the seminiferous tubular lumen. Furthermore, the lumina of the seminiferous tubules and the epididymis of these animals were filled with immature germ cells and cellular debris. This damage may lead to the significant reduction in the seminiferous tubular diameter in BPA-treated animals. These findings were associated with the significant lower plasma testosterone and 17β-oestradiol levels. There was no significant difference between the body weight gain, the absolute as well as relative testis weight or epididymal weight of BPA-treated animals when compared to the control animals. The findings provided further evidence of the detrimental effects of BPA on the male reproductive system.
双酚A（BPA）广泛应用于制造业。它在环境中普遍被检测到，据报道具有雌激素效应，可能对生殖系统有害。本研究旨在观察口服双酚A对青春期前雄性斯普拉格-道利（SD）大鼠生殖器官发育和血浆性激素水平的影响。青春期前雄性SD大鼠（每组n = 8）通过口服灌胃给予剂量为1、5、10和100 mg/kg体重（BW）的双酚A，持续6周。对照动物接受双酚A的溶剂（蒸馏水中的吐温80）。双酚A暴露6周后，大鼠精子发生的证据减少。存在生精上皮损伤，包括细胞间连接的破坏和生殖细胞脱落在生精小管腔内。此外，这些动物的生精小管腔和附睾中充满了未成熟的生殖细胞和细胞碎片。这种损伤可能导致双酚A处理动物的生精小管直径显著减小。这些发现与血浆睾酮和17β-雌二醇水平显著降低有关。与对照动物相比，双酚A处理动物的体重增加、绝对睾丸重量以及相对睾丸重量或附睾重量之间没有显著差异。这些发现进一步证明了双酚A对雄性生殖系统的有害影响。
