Perinatal bisphenol A exposure increases atherosclerosis in adult male mice. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a base chemical used extensively in numerous consumer products, and human exposure to BPA is ubiquitous. Higher BPA exposure has been associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in multiple human population-based studies, but the underlying mechanisms responsible for the associations remain elusive. We previously reported that BPA activates the xenobiotic receptor pregnane X receptor (PXR) which has pro-atherogenic effects in animal models. Since BPA is a potent agonist for human PXR but does not affect rodent PXR activity, a suitable PXR-humanized Apolipoprotein E-deficient (huPXR•ApoE-/-) mouse model was developed to study BPA's atherogenic effects, and chronic BPA exposure indeed increased atherosclerosis in huPXR•ApoE-/- mice. Here we report that BPA exposure can also activate human PXR signaling in the heart tubes of huPXR•ApoE-/- embryos, and perinatal BPA exposure exacerbated atherosclerosis in adult male huPXR•ApoE-/- offspring. However, atherosclerosis development in female offspring was not affected by perinatal BPA exposure. Perinatal BPA exposure did not affect plasma lipid levels but increased aortic and atherosclerotic lesional fatty acid transporter CD36 expression in male huPXR•ApoE-/- offspring. Mechanistically, PXR epigenetically regulated CD36 expression by increasing H3K4me3 levels and decreasing H3K27me3 levels in the CD36 promoter in response to perinatal BPA exposure. Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of theassociation between BPA exposure and increased atherosclerosis or CVD risk in humans, and activation of human PXR should be taken into consideration for future BPA risk assessment.