Adult fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, partial life-cycle reproductive and gonadal histopathology study with bisphenol A

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an intermediate used to produce epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastics. Although BPA degrades rapidly in the environment with aquatic half-lives from 0.5 to 6 d, it can be found in aquatic systems because of widespread use. To evaluate potential effects from chronic exposure, fathead minnows were exposed for 164 d to nominal concentrations of 1, 16, 64, 160, and 640 µg/L BPA. Population-level endpoints of survival, growth, and reproduction were assessed with supplemental endpoints (e.g., vitellogenin, gonad histology), including gonad cell type assessment and quantification. No statistically significant changes in growth, gonad weight, gonadosomatic index, or reproduction variables (e.g., number of eggs and spawns, hatchability) were observed; however, there was a significant impact on male survival at 640 µg/L. Vitellogenin increased in both sexes at 64 µg/L or higher. Gonad cell type frequencies were significantly different from controls at 160 µg/L or higher in males with a slight decrease in spermatocytes compared with less mature cell types, and at 640 µg/L in females with a slight decrease in early vitellogenic cells compared with less mature cells. The decrease in spermatocytes did not correspond to a decrease in the most mature sex cell type (spermatozoa) and did not impair male fertility, as hatchability was not impacted. Overall, marginal shifts in gametogenic cell maturation were not associated with any statistically significant effects on population-relevant reproductive endpoints (growth, fecundity, and hatchability) at any concentration tested.

Evidence for bisphenol A-induced female infertility: a review (2007–2016)

“…Specifically, a few studies indicate that gestational low dose BPA exposure did not alter number of litters (41–44) or litter size (41–48) in mice, rats, and fish. Xi et al ., also indicate that gestational BPA exposure at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day (i.e.…”

Bisphenol A Exposure During Early Development Induces Sex-Specific Changes in Adult Zebrafish Social Interactions

“…Because it is considered by many as a xenoestrogen, BPA has been associated with a range of molecular and physiological processes that may affect social behaviors, especially those linked to sex-specific activity patterns, e.g., alterations in gene expression (fish: Hatef et al 2012; Ribeiro et al 2012; rats: Li et al 2014), organ development (general vertebrates: Gibert et al 2011; Masuo and Ishido 2011; fish: Molina et al 2013; Huang et al 2012; Mihaich et al 2012; Cao et al 2010), and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis activity (rats: Li et al 2014). While it was shown to bind to a range of hormone receptors (human: Prasanth et al 2010; fish: Jiao and Cheng 2010), there has been particular interest in BPA binding to estrogen receptors (ER), e.g., ERα, ERβ, and estrogen-related receptor gamma, ERRγ (general vertebrate: Ben-Jonathan and Steinmetz 1998; human: Takayanagi et al 2006; fish: Saili et al 2012; mice: Kundakovic et al 2013; rat: Cao et al 2013;).…”

Life-cycle studies with 2 marine species and bisphenol A: The mysid shrimp (Americamysis bahia) and sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus)

“…Aquatic studies [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] were assembled that assessed the toxicity of BPA across a broad range of taxa including fish, amphibians, numerous invertebrates, algae, and aquatic plants. In developing this database, studies previously collected and critically reviewed by Staples et al [31,32] were used as a starting point.…”

“…The RIVM ETx 2.0 program [34] was used to calculate HC5 values for the distribution of NOEC/EC10 values. Twenty-two chronic toxicity tests covering 17 distinct families of aquatic organisms and 17 different species [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] were used to develop SSDs ( Table 3). Fourteen of the species within the dataset inhabit freshwater, and 3 species inhabit estuarine or marine water.…”

“…The chronic toxicity of BPA to freshwater organisms has been examined in studies that cover all the taxonomic groups specified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for development of national water quality criteria [7] and by the European Chemicals Agency when using a species sensitivity distribution (SSD) [8], including fish, amphibians, pelagic and benthic invertebrates, plants, algae, and diatoms [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. These studies employed partial life-cycle, full life-cycle, or multigeneration exposure regimes.…”