Abstract
Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) is an important endocrine disrupting chemical that is widely used in plastic containers and has tendency to accumulate in many organs and affect their functions.
Aim of Study: The aim was to clarify the effect of BPA on the histological structure of the renal cortex in adult male albino rat and to assess the efficacy of its withdrawal in amelioration of this effect.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted on forty adult male albino rats which randomly divided into four groups (10 rats each). Group I served as negative control, Group II was vehicle group and received corn oil, Group III which received a daily oral dose of BPA 50mg/kg body of weight for eight weeks and finally Group IV which received the same dose of BPA as Group III then kept for another four weeks without treatment for spontaneous recovery (BPA recovery). Renal cortices were processed for light and electron microscope examinations. Blood samples were collected for biochemical parameters (urea and creatinine). The level of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and catalase activity were estimated in the kidney tissue. In addition, the diameter of renal glomeruli and Bow-man's space surface area were morphometically and statistically analyzed.
Results: It was noticed that BPA led to degenerative changes in the renal cortex with partial improvement of such structural findings in the BPA recovery group. Compared with the control groups (negative control, corn oil), the BPA group showed no significant difference in body weights (p=.52) but there was a higher significant increase in kidney weights (p<.001). Comparing between the BPA-treated and BPA recovery groups, no statistically significant differences (p=.34) was reported. Tissue MDA, urea and creatinine levels showed significant increase (p<.001) while catalase activity was dramatically decreased (p<.001) in the in BPA-treated and BPA recovery groups with no statistically significant differ-ences between BPA treated and BPA recovery groups. The glomerular histomorphometry showed a significant decrease in mean glomerular diameter but very statistically significantly higher mean Bowman's space surface area in the BPA-treated and BPA recovery groups than the control groups, with nosignificant difference between the BPA-treated and BPA recovery groups (p=.67, p=.61) respectively.
Conclusion: The previous results supported that BPA had toxic effect on the renal cortex structure and the recovery from such effect might need more than four weeks.