Second trimester amniotic fluid bisphenol A concentration is associated with decreased birth weight in term infants

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disrupting chemical with ubiquitous environmental exposure. Animal studies have demonstrated that in utero BPA exposure leads to increased adult body weight. Our aim was to characterize human fetal BPA exposure by measuring BPA concentration in second trimester amniotic fluid (AF) samples and to study its relationship with birth weight (BW) in full term infants. To achieve these goals, we developed a total BPA assay utilizing derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl followed by analysis with LC-ECAPCI-MS/MS with a limit of detection of 0.08 ng/mL and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.25 ng/mL. The mean BW of infants with AF BPA 0.40-2.0 ng/mL was 241.8 grams less than infants with AF BPA less than the LOQ after controlling for covariates (p=0.049). No effect was seen outside this range indicating a non-monotonic effect. Our data suggest that low level BPA exposure in utero decreases BW and needs further study.

Flaws in design, execution and interpretation limit CLARITY‐BPA’s value for risk assessments of bisphenol A

“…In our data set, we found a significant increase in body‐weight at birth (overall ANOVA, P < 0.05) in rats exposed during foetal life to BPA and EE2 relative to negative controls. However, the increased body‐weight due to exposure to either BPA (both the 25 and 250 µg/kg/day groups) or EE2 (both the 0.05 and 0.5 µg/kg/day groups) in our experiment was opposite to what the FDA had previously reported in NCTR CD‐SD rats and was also opposite to human data …”

“…However, the increased body-weight due to exposure to either BPA (both the 25 and 250 µg/kg/day groups) or EE2 (both the 0.05 and 0.5 µg/kg/day groups) in our experiment was opposite to what the FDA had previously reported in NCTR CD-SD rats 26 and was also opposite to human data. 47 A problem we faced was that the FDA would not provide us with advance information about the body-weights of their core study negative controls before they released this information to the public in February 2018. Following public release of the data, we were also finally able to determine that animals provided to us were not evenly distributed across the five replicate blocks of rats produced by the NCTR.…”

Zebrafish as a Model for Toxicological Perturbation of Yolk and Nutrition in the Early Embryo

“…Though we are unable to probe the relationship between the human embryonic yolk and these parturition outcomes, the use of models such as the zebrafish may help to elucidate this relationship. Epidemiology studies have associated numerous environmental toxicants with reduced birth weight or size, including bisphenol A [81], phthalates [82], perfluorinated compounds [83, 84], and fine particulate matter [85]. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown.…”

Reduced body weight at weaning followed by increased post-weaning growth rate interacts with part-per-trillion fetal serum concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA) to impair glucose tolerance in male mice

“…Others have found similar effects of prenatal BPA exposure on metabolic outcomes in rodents that include reduced glucose tolerance and increased insulin resistance, increased body weight and altered pancreatic islet function [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. There are reported associations between BPA exposure and impaired fetal growth and metabolic outcomes in humans [20,21], as well as studies relating BPA exposure to obesity in children [22] and altered insulin secretion in men and women. We have also previously shown increased pre-weaning growth rate in CF-1 mice exposed to BPA during gestation [23].…”