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Fetal exposure to bisphenol A affects the primordial follicle formation by inhibiting the meiotic progression of oocytes

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Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an estrogenic environmental toxin widely used for the production of plastics. Frequent human exposure to this chemical has been proposed to be a potential public health risk. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of BPA on germ cell cyst breakdown and primordial follicle formation. Pregnant mice were treated with BPA at doses of 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.08 mg/kg body weight/day from 12.5 day postcoitum. BPA was delivered orally to pregnant female mice. A dose–response relationship was observed with increased BPA exposure level associated with more oocytes in germ cell cyst and less primordial follicle at postnatal day 3 (P < 0.01). Progression to meiosis prophase I of oocytes was delayed in the 0.08 mg/kg bw/day treated group (P < 0.01). Decreased mRNA expression of specific meiotic genes including Stra8, Dmc1, Rec8 and Scp3 were observed. In conclusion, BPA exposure can affect the formation of primordial follicle by inhibiting meiotic progression of oocytes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2007CB947401, 2011CB944501 and 2012CB944401), National Nature Science Foundation (31001010), Foundation of Distinguished Young Scholars (JQ201109), Foundation of Education Department (J11LC20) and Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Germ Cell Biology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

    Han-Qiong Zhang, Lian-Jun Zhang, Hu-He Chao, Bo Pan, Yan-Min Feng, Lan Li, Xiao-Feng Sun & Wei Shen

  2. College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China

    Xi-Feng Zhang

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  1. Han-Qiong Zhang
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  2. Xi-Feng Zhang
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Correspondence to Wei Shen.

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H.-Q. Zhang and X.-F. Zhang both are co-first authors.

Electronic supplementary material

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11033_2011_1372_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Fig. S1. A, B shows the percentage of oocytes in cyst and different types of follicles in control and different BPA-treated groups at PND 5, PND 7, respectively. Supplementary material 1 (PDF 38 kb)

11033_2011_1372_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Fig. S2. Infant mouse health check. (A) litter size in control and different BPA groups, (B) sex ratio of infant mouse in control and different BPA groups. Supplementary material 2 (PDF 14 kb)

11033_2011_1372_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Fig. S3. The mRNA expression of Estrogen Receptors (ERα and ERβ) in control and 0.08 mg/kg bw/day treated group at 17.5 dpc. The results were presented as mean ± SD. * indicates significance of P < 0.05; ** indicates significance of P < 0.01. Supplementary material 3 (PDF 13 kb)

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Zhang, HQ., Zhang, XF., Zhang, LJ. et al. Fetal exposure to bisphenol A affects the primordial follicle formation by inhibiting the meiotic progression of oocytes. Mol Biol Rep 39, 5651–5657 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1372-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1372-3

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