Effect of bisphenol A exposure during early development on glucose metabolism and adipokine expression in adolescent female rats

Accumulating evidences indicate that bisphenol A (BPA) exposure during early development increases the risk of obesity and insulin resistance in later life. Despite growing public concern, it is not totally clear about the mechanism of BPA. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of perinatal exposure to BPA on body weight, glucose metabolism and adipokine expression in adolescent female offspring rats. Pregnant rats were exposed to BPA in water at levels of either 1 μg/mL (LBPA) or 10 μg/mL (HBPA) from gestation day 6 to the end of lactation. Body weight, the levels of fasting serum glucose, insulin and adiponectin (ADP), and Zinc-alpha2-glycoprotein (ZAG) and ADP mRNA and protein expression from adipose tissue in 7 weeks old female offspring were measured. There were high birth weight and high body weight at age of 7 weeks in BPA treated group. There were significantly higher levels of serum glucose and insulin, and lower levels of serum ADP and plasma ZAG protein, and lower ADP and ZAG mRNA and protein expression in BPA-exposed female offspring compared with controls. The results suggested that BPA-exposed during early development had long-term deleterious effects on body weight and glucose metabolism, which was probably associated with the down-regulated expression of ZAG and ADP gene in early developmental female rats.