Natural Society | September 26 2012
A new animal study links bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure in females in utero with reproductive problems later in life, including abnormal egg development.
“All the eggs that a female is going to have in her lifetime are formed before birth,” says researcher Catherine VandeVoort of University of California, Davis. “Anything that disrupts that process is going to have an impact later in life.”
Impaired Follicles and Division
For the study (which will be published next week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), scientists put fetal monkeys in two groups. A control group remained unexposed to BPA while another group was exposed to the chemical through daily food during second or third trimesters or through an implant that administered constant, low doses of BPA.
The eggs of fetuses exposed to BPA had difficulty forming follicles, which surround eggs during development. Being unprotected in this manner often leads to eggs dying before maturation, according to VandeVoort.
Other abnormalities seen in the eggs were signs that they would carry too many chromosomes from being unable to divide during development, leading to miscarriages or disorders like Down Syndrome.