A recently published study by a Carleton professor aims to shed light on the impact of Bisphenol-A on human health.
Bisphenol-A, more commonly known as BPA, is a chemical compound that is found in a number of substances, including receipt paper and can linings. It is what gives plastic materials their strength and durability.
Given its common presence, exposure to BPA is unavoidable, yet there is debate regarding the effects of BPA on our health.
In a recently-published study, steps toward answering this question were taken by Carleton neuroscience professor Alfonso Abizaid, along with former Carleton Ph.D. student Harry Mackay.
In their experiment, which was run between 2009 and 2015, Abizaid and Mackay mixed BPA into the food of pregnant mice. The development of their babies was monitored along with a control group of infant mice, whose mothers did not receive the substance.
While no initial difference in obesity was found in either group, when introduced to a high-fat diet, baby mice whose mothers had been exposed to BPA experienced weight gain higher than those who weren’t exposed to BPA.
Regarding these findings, Abizaid said “exposure [to BPA] earlier in life made them more susceptible to gaining weight when they had a high-fat diet.”
Abizaid and Mackay traced their results to the hypothalamus, a region in the back of the brain. Here, the hormone leptin stimulates a chemical, which is responsible for weight regulation. The brain depends upon the chemical to maintain a healthy weight.
“What we observed was that these projections were not complete essentially, when animals were exposed to BPA,” Abizaid said.
Abizaid also said it didn’t require a toxic amount of BPA to create these results.
“The BPA concentrations that we added into the food were under the limit of what Health Canada considers safe,” he said.
While experts argue that the body is naturally equipped to break down BPA, problem arise in the case of pregnancy, in both mice and humans alike, as this ability does not develop in infants until after the gestation period has terminated, he said.
“While the mom may be able to break it down, the baby inside cannot, so the baby may be more exposed to that circulating level of BPA than the mom is,” Abizaid said.
Though he does not claim a personal stance on the debate regarding whether or not BPA should continue to be circulated, he said that increased awareness and taking necessary precautions, especially if you are pregnant, are important.
“The impact and the significance of this research is that it does provide evidence suggesting that vulnerability to obesity, that BPA can cause vulnerability to obesity by changing the ways in which the hypothalamus is organized,” he said.
Abizaid said his interest in the effects of BPA was first sparked 12 years ago during his time as a post-doctoral fellow, where he studied plasticity in the hypothalamus.
He said he continues to investigate the impact of BPA exposure upon leptin-mediated projections in mouse brains, and he hopes to eventually extend his research to human subjects.
– Photo by Angela Tilley
