Gene expression profiles of the normal myometrium after 48 and 96 hours of exposure to BPA

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a plasticizer and affects estrogen metabolism and function. Because of its estrogenic activity, BPA may be the underlying cause of female estrogen-dependent tumors such as leiomyoma and endometriosis. In this investigation, we used microarrays to study the effects of BPA on RNA expression of normal uterine myometrial cells without estrogen condition. We previously determined that the expression of genes related to the formation of leiomyoma was altered after 48 h of BPA exposure. In order to determine if these changes depend on exposure time, uterine myometrial cells were cultured and treated with BPA for 48 and 96 h without estrogen. RNA extraction, microarray analysis, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis were performed. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were used for evaluation of gene expression changes. The expression levels of genes related to the formation of fibroids changed after 48 h and 96 h, but these changes of gene expression did not show time depend manner. BPA doses not continuously alter the expression of genes in uterine smooth muscle cells without estrogen. These results suggest the action mechanism of BPA to change of gene expression might be related to the action of estrogen.