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Chronic Exposure to Bisphenol A can Accelerate Atherosclerosis in High-Fat-Fed Apolipoprotein E Knockout Mice

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Abstract

In epidemiological studies, there is growing concern regarding the association between human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Therefore, we investigated whether BPA accelerates atherosclerosis in mouse model. Apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE−/−) mice were fed a high-fat and high-cholesterol diet with or without 50 μg/kg body weight/day BPA for 12 weeks. Atherosclerotic lesions of the aorta and aortic sinus were evaluated by Oil red O staining. After the 12-week BPA treatment, BPA significantly increased atherosclerotic lesions in the aortas of ApoE−/− mice by 1.7-fold (p = 0.03). Non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels in the BPA group were significantly higher compared to those in the control group (1,035 ± 70 vs. 484 ± 48 mg/dL, p = 0.02) although body weight and blood glucose levels were not different between groups. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with 0.1–10 nM BPA but BPA did not affect HUVEC proliferation or migration. BPA could accelerate atherosclerosis in ApoE−/− mice, which may have resulted from an increase in non-HDL cholesterol levels.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government (2010-0023068).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yongon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Republic of Korea

    Min Joo Kim, Min Kyong Moon, Sung Hee Choi, Soo Lim, Do Joon Park, Kyong Soo Park, Hak Chul Jang & Young Joo Park

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, 139-706, Republic of Korea

    Min Joo Kim

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul Metropolitan Government Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, 156-707, Republic of Korea

    Min Kyong Moon

  4. Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 110-744, Republic of Korea

    Geun Hyung Kang

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, 463-707, Republic of Korea

    Kwan Jae Lee, Sung Hee Choi, Soo Lim & Hak Chul Jang

  6. Department of Molecular Medicine, Lee Gil Ya Cancer and Diabetes Institute, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Inchon, 406-840, Republic of Korea

    Byung-Chul Oh

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  1. Min Joo Kim
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Correspondence to Young Joo Park.

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Min Joo Kim and Min Kyong Moon have equally contributed to this work.

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Kim, M.J., Moon, M.K., Kang, G.H. et al. Chronic Exposure to Bisphenol A can Accelerate Atherosclerosis in High-Fat-Fed Apolipoprotein E Knockout Mice. Cardiovasc Toxicol 14, 120–128 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12012-013-9235-x

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