In utero, BPA no harm to male mice testes

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Mothers of mice exposed to high doses of Bisphenol A while pregnant had male offspring that developed no signs of harm to their testes, U.S. researchers say.

Senior author Mary Hixon, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and lead author Jessica LaRocca, a graduate student, exposed mice to BPA during days 10 through 16 of their pregnancy, the period of time when the sexual organs of their fetuses were developing.

"This might alleviate some worries for the general public," Hixon said in a statement. "It comes down to the biology."

BPA, used to make certain types of plastics found in many consumer products, has been banned in some places because it can mimic natural estrogen in the body

Some pregnant mice consumed a solution with a concentration of BPA at the Environmental Protection Agency-acceptable level, while other pregnant mice were given a solution at a concentration 20 times higher.

The experimenters' negative controls were given sesame oil, and the positive controls were given diethylstilbestrol, a much more potent estrogen-mimicking chemical.

The study, published online in the journal Birth Defects Research (Part B), found the tubules, sperm counts and testosterone levels of BPA-exposed mice were also not significantly different.

However, research team did not test whether the sperm of BPA-exposed mice were actually fertile.