Environmental impacts on brain functions: Low dose effects of bisphenol A during perinatal critical period

Abstract

It is well known that the perinatal developing brain is vulnerable to environmental chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA). Recent studies have focused on the low dose effects of BPA on the central nervous system (CNS). Sexual dimorphism in the rat's brain and behaviors, such as locus coeruleus (LC) and open-field behaviors, were sensitively altered by BPA in a sex-dependent manner. This chemical also enhanced the depressive response. It suggests that the developing brain, including the noradrenergic LC cell, is highly sensitive to environmental chemicals, which induces diverse behavioral alterations.