Evaluation of Prenatal Exposure to Bisphenol Analogues on Development and Long-Term Health of the Mammary Gland in Female Mice

Continued efforts to phase out bisphenol A (BPA) from consumer products have been met with the challenges of finding safer alternatives. Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether early-life exposure to BPA and its related analogues, bisphenol AF (BPAF) and bisphenol S (BPS), could affect female pubertal mammary gland development and long-term mammary health in mice.

These data demonstrate that prenatal exposure of mice to BPAF or BPS induced precocious development of the mammary gland, and that siblings were significantly more susceptible to spontaneous preneoplastic epithelial lesions and inflammation, with an incidence greater than that observed in vehicle- and BPA-exposed animals. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3189.

Timed pregnant CD-1 mice were exposed to vehicle, BPA (0.5, 5, 50 mg/kg), BPAF (0.05, 0.5, 5 mg/kg), or BPS (0.05, 0.5, 5 mg/kg) via oral gavage between gestation days 10–17. Mammary glands were collected from resulting female offspring at postnatal day (PND) 20, 28, 35, and 56, and at 3, 8, and 14 months for whole mount, histopathological evaluation, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR); serum steroid concentrations were also measured at these time points.

In the bisphenol-exposed mice, accelerated mammary gland development was evident during early puberty and persisted into adulthood. By late adulthood, mammary glands from bisphenol-exposed female offspring exhibited adverse morphology in comparison with controls; most prominent were undifferentiated duct ends, significantly more lobuloalveolar hyperplasia and perivascular inflammation, and various tumors, including adenocarcinomas. Effects were especially prominent in the BPAF 5 mg/kg and BPS 0.5 mg/kg groups. Serum steroid concentrations and mammary mRNA levels of Esr1, Pgr, Ar, and Gper1 were similar to controls. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that prenatal exposure of mice to BPAF or BPS induced precocious development of the mammary gland, and that siblings were significantly more susceptible to spontaneous preneoplastic epithelial lesions and inflammation, with an incidence greater than that observed in vehicle- and BPA-exposed animals. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3189.