ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (5): 993-1005.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.05.010

• ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND REPRODUCTION • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Maternal Exposure to Bisphenol A during Pregnancy and Lactation on the Development of Testis in Male Offspring Mice

ZHANG Shilei1,2, BAO Jialu2, SHI Wanyu2*, ZHONG Xiuhui1,2*   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China;
    2. College of Veterinary Medicine & Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China
  • Received:2018-11-22 Online:2019-05-23 Published:2019-05-23

Abstract:

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of maternal exposure to BPA on testicular development of male offspring mice. Eight-week-old SPF female mice weighing 18-22 g were randomly divided into 7 groups (group A, B, C, D, E, F and G) with 4 replicates in each group, 5 per replicate. Group A was given normal distilled water daily, and group B was given 0.05 mg·kg-1 BPA daily, group C was given 0.5 mg·kg-1 BPA daily, group D was given 5 mg·kg-1 BPA daily, group E was given 10 mg·kg-1 BPA daily, group F was given 20 mg·kg-1 BPA daily, group G was given 50 mg·kg-1 BPA daily. F0 female mice were exposed to BPA from pregnancy day 1 to the lactation day 21. F1 male mice were sacrificed for sampling at weaning (21 d). The results showed that the BPA content in the serum and testis of the male offspring mice significantly increased when the dose of BPA was more than 5 mg·kg-1 (P<0.05). The dose of BPA greater than or equal to 20 mg·kg-1 resulted in a significant increase in testicular index in male offspring mice (P<0.05). H&E staining showed that the testicular tubules shrunk and the small tube gap became larger when the dose of BPA was greater than or equal to 10 mg·kg-1. The results of comet assay showed that the damage of testicular DNA significantly increased in the progeny testis DNA when the BPA exposure dose was greater than or equal to 5 mg·kg-1 (P<0.05). The results of immunohistochemistry showed that the expression of androgen receptor (AR) in the testes of the offspring significantly decreased when the dose of BPA was greater than or equal to 20 mg·kg-1 (P<0.05). Transcriptome sequencing showed that the expression of Snrnp40 encoding U5 snRNA subunit up-regulated in spliceosome pathway, and the expression of Hnrnpu encoding splicing universal protein component down-regulated, which led to the first steps of mRNA post-transcriptional modification were blocked in male offspring mice when the dose of BPA was 50 mg·kg-1. The results of the real-time PCR were consistent with those of the transcriptome sequencing. The result indicate that female mice exposing to low doses of BPA can cause testicular dysplasia of male offspring mice, and its molecular mechanism may be related to the hindered reaction of the first step of mRNA post-transcriptional modification.

CLC Number: