Consequences of perinatal bisphenol A exposure in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease influenced by genetic and environmental contributing factors. Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) such as bisphenol A (BPA) affect gene expression and hormone-regulated systems throughout the body. We investigated the effects of BPA on Theiler’s-virus induced demyelination (TVID), a mouse model of MS. Perinatal BPA exposure, combined with viral infection, resulted in a decreased level of viral antibodies, accelerated the onset of TVID symptoms, increased inflammation in both the spinal cord and digestive tract, and amplified immune-related gene expression changes induced by viral infection. These results demonstrate the effect of BPA on the trajectory of TVID, and illustrate how multiple factors collectively influence autoimmune disease.

• Demyelination
• endocrine disruptor
• gene expression
• immune response
• inflammation

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Francisco Gomez, Collin Mulcahy, Deren Koseoglu, Kristin Deason and Christina Dudash in the care and daily treatment of the mice. Dr Jianrong Li and Dr Sunja Kim provided assistance with oligodendrocyte progenitor cultures in support of this project (unpublished data) and generously supplied space and materials for these experiments. Histology of the spinal cord samples was performed by Lin S. Bustamante and Chaitali Mukherjee. Dr Steve Safe provided the BPA for this project. The Texas A&M Whole Systems Genomics Initiative, Dr Loren Skow, Dr Scott Dindot and Ryan Doan, all provided lab space, training and/or equipment in support of the RT-PCR and microarray experiments.

Supplementary material available online Supplementary Tables 1–2