Maternal bisphenol A (BPA) decreases attractiveness of male offspring

Abstract

Are you having little luck in the search for your soulmate? When you finally meet a woman does she seem disinterested? What could it be? Your breath? Your clothes? Findings from a new study (1) suggest it may be your mother's dietary exposure to bisphenol A (BPA). In the study published in PNAS, Jasarevic′ et al. (1) find that maternal BPA exposure impairs spatial ability, decreases exploratory behavior, and reduces attractiveness of male deer mice progeny. These traits are sexually dimorphic and are subjected to sexual selection because they are essential characteristics needed to find mates and reproduce in male deer mice (and other polygynous species) (2). Male deer mice, much like male meadow voles, traverse large territories during the breeding season to gain access to dispersed females (3). Female meadow voles prefer male meadow voles with better spatial ability, and male meadow voles with better spatial ability visit more female nest boxes (4, 5). Thus, home range size and spatial ability favor males in most polygynous species. Intriguingly, these sexually dimorphic traits also manifest in the hippocampus, an area important for spatial memory. Males have a larger hippocampus and greater levels of adult hippocampal neurogenesis than females during the breeding season (6, 7). The expression of sexually dimorphic spatial ability depends on both early (pre- or perinatal) and adult levels of sex hormones in rodents (3). The report by Jasarevic′ et al. (1) shows that these sexually dimorphic traits, spatial ability and exploratory behavior, in addition to attractiveness, are affected by maternal dietary exposure to the environmental endocrine disrupter BPA. Specifically, the authors show that maternal consumption of low levels of dietary BPA renders male offspring at a disadvantage for mating, not only because of poorer spatial navigation and greater anxiety-like behavior but also because they are less attractive to female conspecifics. These findings are significant as coupled with other studies, it seems that maternal dietary consumption of low levels of BPA may affect the fecundity of adult offspring through a number of mediating factors.