Possible Obesogenic Effects of Bisphenols Accumulation in the Human Brain

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 8186 - 10
• Main Authors: Charisiadis, Pantelis, Andrianou, Xanthi D., van der Meer, Thomas P., den Dunnen, Wilfred F. A., Swaab, Dick F., Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H. R., Makris, Konstantinos C., van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29.05.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/499; 704/172/4081; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Autopsy; Bisphenol A; Blood-brain barrier; Body mass index; Brain; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hypothalamus; multidisciplinary; Obesity; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Substantia alba; Substantia grisea
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26498-y

Evidence of bisphenols’ obesogenic effects on humans is mixed and inconsistent. We aimed to explore the presence of bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol F (BPF) and chlorinated BPA (ClBPA), collectively called the bisphenols, in different brain regions and their association with obesity using post-mortem hypothalamic and white matter brain material from twelve pairs of obese (body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m 2 ) and normal-weight individuals (BMI <25 kg/m 2 ). Mean ratios of hypothalamus:white matter for BPA, BPF and ClBPA were 1.5, 0.92, 0.95, respectively, suggesting no preferential accumulation of the bisphenols in the grey matter (hypothalamic) or white matter-enriched brain areas. We observed differences in hypothalamic concentrations among the bisphenols, with highest median level detected for ClBPA (median: 2.4 ng/g), followed by BPF (2.2 ng/g) and BPA (1.2 ng/g); similar ranking was observed for the white matter samples (median for: ClBPA-2.5 ng/g, BPF-2.3 ng/g, and BPA-1.0 ng/g). Furthermore, all bisphenol concentrations, except for white-matter BPF were associated with obesity ( p  < 0.05). This is the first study reporting the presence of bisphenols in two distinct regions of the human brain. Bisphenols accumulation in the white matter-enriched brain tissue could signify that they are able to cross the blood-brain barrier.