Honeycutt Jennifer A, Nguyen Jenny Q T, Kentner Amanda C, Brenhouse Heather C
Psychology Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Program in Health Psychology, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts.
J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2017 May 1;56(3):269-272.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins that are found in laboratory animal husbandry materials including cages and water bottles. Concerns about BPA exposure in humans has led to investigations that suggest physiologic health risks including disruptions to the endocrine system and CNS. However, the extent of exposure of laboratory animals to BPA in drinking water is unclear. In the first study, we compared the amount of BPA contamination in water stored in plastic bottles used in research settings with that in glass bottles. The amount of BPA that leached into water was measured across several time points ranging from 24 to 96 h by using a BPA ELISA assay. The results showed that considerable amounts of BPA (approximately 0.15 μg/L) leached from polycarbonate bottles within the first 24 h of storage. In the second study, BPA levels were measured directly from water taken from filtered compared with unfiltered taps. We observed significantly higher BPA levels in water from unfiltered taps (approximately 0.40 μg/L) compared with taps with filtration systems (approximately 0.04 μg/L). Taken together, our findings indicate that the use of different types of water bottles and water sources, combined with the use of different laboratory products (food, caging systems) between laboratories, likely contribute to decreased rigor and reproducibility in research. We suggest that researchers consider reporting the types of water bottles used and that animal care facilities educate staff regarding the importance of flushing nonfiltered water taps when filling animal water bottles.
双酚A（BPA）广泛应用于聚碳酸酯塑料和环氧树脂中，这些材料存在于实验动物饲养材料中，包括笼子和水瓶。对人类接触BPA的担忧引发了一些调查，这些调查表明存在生理健康风险，包括对内分泌系统和中枢神经系统的干扰。然而，实验动物通过饮用水接触BPA的程度尚不清楚。在第一项研究中，我们比较了研究环境中使用的塑料瓶和玻璃瓶储存的水中BPA的污染量。通过使用BPA ELISA测定法，在24至96小时的多个时间点测量了渗入水中的BPA量。结果表明，在储存的前24小时内，大量的BPA（约0.15μg/L）从聚碳酸酯瓶中渗出。在第二项研究中，直接测量了从过滤水龙头和未过滤水龙头采集的水中的BPA水平。我们观察到，与装有过滤系统的水龙头（约0.04μg/L）相比，未过滤水龙头的水中BPA水平显著更高（约0.40μg/L）。综合来看，我们的研究结果表明，不同类型的水瓶和水源的使用，再加上不同实验室之间使用不同的实验室产品（食物、饲养系统），可能会导致研究的严谨性和可重复性降低。我们建议研究人员考虑报告所使用的水瓶类型，并且动物护理设施应教育工作人员在给动物水瓶加水时冲洗未过滤水龙头的重要性。
