Protective Effects of Perinatal Resveratrol on Bisphenol A Exposure-Induced Cardiovascular Alterations and Hepatic Steatosis in Adult Offspring Mice: A Histopathological Study

Abstract

Perinatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure promotes the risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. Currently, there is a dire need to develop new therapeutic strategies and options to treat the adverse fetal programming consequences of this exposure. The present study explored the protective effects of perinatal resveratrol (Rsv) administration on BPA exposure-induced adverse cardiovascular changes and hepatic steatosis in adult offspring mice. Pregnant apolipoprotein E-deficient mice were exposed to BPA in drinking water (1 μg/mL) or to both BPA (1 μg/mL) and Rsv (oral; 20 mg kg−1 day−1) during the gestation and lactation periods. Tissues from the heart, liver, left kidney, and brachiocephalic artery from adult offspring (20 weeks old) were processed for staining with H and E, Masson’s trichrome, and Verhoeff–van Gieson and subsequent histology analysis. In both female and male mice who received Rsv supplementation, the following changes were observed in the brachiocephalic arterial wall: (a) a reduction in the BPA exposure-induced increased thickness ratio of the tunica intima to tunica media from 1.3 ± 1.1 µm to 0.5 ± 0.37 µm (p = 0.027) and 0.72 ± 0.58 µm to 0.29 ± 0.25 µm (p = 0.038), respectively, (b) a reduction in the number of elastic lamina breaks (p p = 0.02). Renal cortical cytoplasmic vacuolation was identified in both BPA and/or Rsv-treated groups. Our findings suggest that Rsv could be a potential protective candidate against perinatal BPA exposure-induced cardiovascular changes and hepatic steatosis.

Keywords

• bisphenol A
• resveratrol
• cardiovascular disease
• heart
• hepatic steatosis