Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 23, 2007|Volume 35, Number 19

Study: Fertility defect linked
to commonly used plastic

The contaminant bisphenol-A (BPA) -- widely used to make many plastics found in food storage containers and dental products -- can have long-term effects in female development, according to a recent study by Yale School of Medicine researchers published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

The research shows that BPA changes the expression of key developmental genes that form the uterus, according to lead investigator Dr. Hugh S. Taylor, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences (Ob/Gyn) at Yale.

If pregnant women are exposed to the estrogen-like properties found in BPA, he adds, it may impact female reproductive tract development and the future fertility of female fetuses the mother is carrying.

The study was conducted on pregnant female mice by administering a range of doses of BPA on days 9-16 of their pregnancies. The aim was to see what interaction BPA would have with the HOX A10 gene, which is necessary for uterine development.

Taylor and co-author Caroline C. Smith of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the School of Medicine, found that BPA does, in fact, alter the expression of the HOXA 10 gene, implying that exposure to the popular plastics component may lead to infertility in humans.

"The net effect is concerning," says Taylor. "We are all exposed to multiple estrogen-like chemicals in industrial products, food and pollutants."

BPA is found in plastics, including baby bottles, epoxy resins used in canned goods and dental sealants. In addition to this new link to fertility and reproductive health, previous findings by Dr. Csaba Leranth, also in Yale Ob/Gyn, found that low doses of BPA in female rats inhibited estrogen induction in the brain. This can lead to learning impairment and, in old age, the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

-- By Karen Peart

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