一项研究说，双酚A能导致实验室线虫的不育和胚胎死亡。人们长久以来争论双酚A是否导致了一大批疾病，包括心脏病、糖尿病和流产，这种物质广泛见于塑料，用于大多数食品与饮料的包装中。
美国的一些州已经在儿童用品中禁用了这种化学物质，但是几乎每个人都会接触到它。Patrick Allard 和Monica P. Colaiacovo测试了双酚A对于秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans）的精子和卵子从它们的前体中产生出来的细胞过程的影响。秀丽隐杆线虫是分子研究的一种实验模特。
这组作者发现，双酚A削弱了性细胞前体的特定DNA修复过程，已知它们对于精子和卵子的形成具有关键作用。此外，接触双酚A还会破坏染色体完整性、触发细胞的损伤监测系统，并导致细胞死亡。这组作者发现，尽管对照组看上去正常，接触了双酚A的卵细胞前体中出现瓦解、破碎和聚集的染色体，最终导致了胚胎死亡和后代数量的下降。这组作者说，这些发现提示了双酚A对人类生殖的影响的一种可能的机制。
推荐英文摘要：
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1010386107
Bisphenol A impairs the double-strand break repair machinery in the germline and causes chromosome abnormalities
Patrick Allard and Monica P. Colaiácovo1
Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a highly prevalent constituent of plastics that has been associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and an increased risk of miscarriages in humans. In mice, BPA exposure disrupts the process of meiosis; however, analysis of the affected molecular pathways is lagging and has been particularly challenging. Here we show that exposure of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to BPA, at internal concentrations consistent with mammalian models, causes increased sterility and embryonic lethality. BPA exposure results in impaired chromosome synapsis and disruption of meiotic double-strand break repair (DSBR) progression. BPA carries an anti-estrogenic activity in the germline and results in germline-specific down-regulation of DSBR genes, thereby impairing maintenance of genomic integrity during meiosis. C. elegans therefore constitutes a model of remarkable relevance to mammals with which to assess how our chemical landscape affects germ cells and meiosis.
