Bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical and environmental pollutant, has been reported by many researchers to induce male reproductive toxicity in different experimental models. In this study, we investigated whether long-term exposure for two months to 25 µg/kg body weight (low dose) of BPA affects spermatogenesis or sperm quality in young Istrian Pramenka rams exposed via diet. We evaluated body and testicular weights, histopathology of testes and epididymides, and sperm analyses, and compared these parameters between the group of treated rams and the control group of rams. Although there were some differences between the two groups, these differences were not large or statistically significant. The only statistically significant difference was the lower epithelial height of seminiferous tubules in treated rams, compared to control rams. In addition to assessing toxicity, BPA concentrations in the blood plasma of treated rams were determined after the first administration, and the toxicokinetic parameters of total BPA were calculated. In this study, no major signs of altered reproduction in rams were detected.

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Following an outbreak of Q fever in a group of students who contracted the infection during a training course on a sheep farm, a detailed investigation of the sheep flock involved was conducted. Of 478 flock animals, 60 Coxiella burnetii ELISA-positive and 60 ELISA-negative ewes were selected for the trial and divided into four groups. A month after the initial ELISA screening, all ewes in the flock (except the control group) were vaccinated. Sequentially collected blood samples were tested with ELISA and PCR; feces, milk, manure, bedding, and soil were tested with PCR. The immune response to the vaccination was 92.7%, while the overall C. burnetii seroprevalence in the flock after the human outbreak was 64.9%. PCR was positive for 0.2% of milk samples and 34.4% of fecal samples of animals from all four trial groups. C. burnetii DNA was not detected in any of the blood samples. Manure was PCR-positive for about 35 months; bedding from the stable was also positive while samples of pasture soil were negative. It appears that extensive cleaning and disinfection combined with vaccination could be regarded as an appropriate approach to control/prevent Q fever in farm settings even in the short term.

Dietary intake is the predominant route of human exposure to bisphenol A and one of the important food commodities is milk. the aim of our study was to preliminarily evaluate the bisphenol A exposure and disposition in sheep milk after repeated dietary and subcutaneous administration of a relatively low dose (100 µg/kg of b. w./day) of bisphenol A to a sheep. on the basis of blood plasma sampling, milk sampling and HpLc analysis, we developed the toxicokinetic model. With the toxicokinetic model we showed that most likely only free bisphenol A passes into the mammary gland and is subsequently conjugated there. the percentage of the dose eliminated with milk was less than 0.1%, regardless of the route of bisphenol A administration. It is proven that the bisphenol A is eliminated through the milk of lactating sheep. However, the amounts excreted in the milk that were detected in this study are minimal.Since the start of the commercial production of bisphenol A (BPA) in the 1950s until the present, the global production and consumption of this substance, regardless of the suspected negative health effects, has continued to rise 1 . With both the wide use of BPA and its leaching from many products and materials 2 , it is known to be one of the ubiquitous environmental contaminants 3 . The main route of human BPA exposure is thought to be oral ingestion (up to 83% of the total estimated exposure), and in 2013 canned products accounted for about 50% of the dietary exposure to BPA. Thus, cans and packaging are believed to be the main source of contamination in foods 4 . Current migration limit of BPA from varnishes or coatings applied to materials and articles is 0.05 mg/kg BPA of food 5 . However, the products from farm animals, being directly exposed to human pollution, could still be, in some cases, an additional risk factor for human exposure 6 .It is believed that BPA causes endocrine disrupting effects by the interaction with various receptors, such as thyroid hormone receptor, androgen receptor and oestrogen receptor. Thus, BPA health hazards for reproductive system, nervous system, metabolic function, immune function, the growth and development of offspring were raised 4,7 . The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) decreased the tolerable daily intake (TDI) from the 50 μg/ kg of b. w./day to 4 μg/kg of b. w./day as a response to a refined risk assessment of BPA 7 .A food commodity important in our daily diet is milk. The quality and safety of milk depends considerably on the environment and human activity in its production. A broad range of environmental contaminants can enter the milk chain in the beginning via application of contaminated material on the soil such as industrial waste and sewage sludge, and atmospheric deposition from industrial activities 6 . It is also true that chemicals can enter milk during the collection and preparation processes of dairy products 8 . For instance, BPA may be introduced during milking from plastic parts of the milking machines, or also transferred from bulk milk to plasti...

The presented work deals with levels and distribution of bisphenol A (BPA) in the edible tissues of a large food-producing animal species. An experimental animal study included 14 young Istrian pramenka rams (Ovis aries), of which seven were exposed for 64 days to a low dietary dose of BPA at 25 µg/kg b.w./day, and seven served as a control group. Residue analysis of both aglycone and total BPA was performed in the muscle tissue, liver, kidney and fat tissue of the individual animals by means of enzymatic deconjugation (for total BPA), organic solvent extraction, molecularly imprinted polymer solid-phase extraction (MISPE) clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLU). The analysis was optimized and validated for aglycone BPA in the fat tissue and for the total BPA in all tissues investigated. Edible tissues of the control group of rams generally remained BPA-free, while there were concentration differences between the control and treated groups for liver and kidney post last administration. The human health risk resulting from this study was assessed by the estimated dietary exposure in adults, which was < 0.1% related to the valid European Union Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) value of 4 µg/kg b.w./day. However, it would be 58-fold higher than the newly proposed TDI value of 0.04 ng/kg b.w./day.