Gestational Bisphenol-A Exposure Lowers The Threshold For Autoimmunity In A Model Of Multiple Sclerosis

Environmental and hormonal factors are implicated in dysimmunity in multiple sclerosis. We investigated whether bisphenol-A, a prominent contaminant with endocrine-disrupting capabilities, altered susceptibility in an inflammatory model of multiple sclerosis. We found that gestational, but not adult, exposure to bisphenol-A increased the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in adulthood in male, but not female, mice when a suboptimal disease-inducing immunization was used. Gestational bisphenol-A in male mice primed macrophages in adulthood and raised granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and neutrophil counts/ activity postsuboptimal immunization. Neutralizing granulocytecolony stimulating factor blocked susceptibility to disease in bisphenol-A mice. Early life exposure to bisphenol-A may represent an environmental consideration in multiple sclerosis.