Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital found that exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA) can increase the risk of infertility because it disrupts human egg maturation.
Infertility reasons in approximately 20 percent of infertile couples remain unknown. In a new study, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital found that exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA) can be one of the contributing factors to infertility.
"To our knowledge, this is the first study that has shown that BPA has a direct effect on egg maturation in humans," Catherine Racowsky, PhD, director of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital said in a press statement. "Because exposure to BPA is so ubiquitous, patients and medical professionals should be aware that BPA may cause a significant disruption to the fundamentals of the human reproductive process and may play a role in unexplained infertility."
For the research, Racowsky and her team examined 352 eggs from 121 consenting patients at a fertility clinic. These eggs, which would otherwise be discarded, were exposed to different levels of BPA under laboratory settings. One egg of each couple was not exposed to BPA and served as the control.
Researchers found a decrease in the percentage of eggs that matured and an increase in the percentage of eggs that degenerated among the eggs that were exposed to BPA. They also observed an increase in the percentage of eggs that underwent spontaneous activation, wherein an egg acts as though it has been fertilized, even though it hasn't. These conditions were even more prominent when the levels of BPA exposure increased.
"Our data show that BPA exposure can dramatically inhibit egg maturation and adds to a growing body of evidence about the impact of BPA on human health. I would encourage further research to gain a greater understanding of the role BPA plays in infertility," said Racowsky.
BPA is a chemical commonly found in plastic and epoxy resins. Common exposure to this chemical is through water bottles, cups, compact discs, food cans, cups and impact resistant material.
An earlier study conducted on monkeys found that BPA can lead to birth defects and it shortens reproductive lifespan.
