A novel study on mice indicates that mother’s exposure to bisphenol A or BPA, a chemical commonly used in food packaging, water bottles, and a variety of consumer goods, during pregnancy elevates asthma risk in the child.

Past studies have also shown a compelling association between BPA exposure, and compromising health conditions such as reproductive disorders, obesity, abnormal brain development as well as breast, and prostate cancers.

The chemical is also under scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its potential health risks.

Mouse model studied
To reach this conclusion, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, used a mouse model and carried out a lab experiment.

"We gave BPA in drinking water starting a week before pregnancy, at levels calculated to produce a body concentration that was the same as that in a human mother, and continued on through the pregnancy and lactation periods," said UTMB associate professor Terumi Midoro-Horiuti, also the lead author of the study.

The researchers then exposed the baby mice to a respiratory trigger, four days after birth. The baby mice were sensitized with an allergy-provoking ovalbumin injection, followed by daily respiratory doses of ovalbumin, the main protein in egg white.

After this, the researchers measured levels of antibodies against ovalbumin, as well as quantities of inflammatory white blood cells known as eosinophils in the lungs of the baby mice.

Additionally, two different methods were also used to measure the lung function of the baby mice.

BPA exposure linked to asthma
Using this procedure, it was found that the offspring of mice demonstrated significant signs of the respiratory disorder.

The researchers found high levels of inflammatory content leading to asthma, and allergy in the offspring of female mice exposed to BPA compared to mice which weren’t exposed to the chemical.

UTMB professor Randall Goldblum, also an author of the paper, said, “What we were looking for is the asthma response to a challenge, something like what might happen if you had asthma and got pollen in your nose or lungs, you might have an asthma attack.
“All four of our indicators of asthma response showed up in the BPA group, much more so than in the pups of the nonexposed mice.”

Asthma and symptoms
Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways that makes breathing difficult. The condition causes the lung linings of the genetically predisposed individuals to get swollen, irritated and inflamed, according to WebMD.

This causes the airways to become narrower and hence causes difficulty in breathing.

Many reasons, genetic and environmental, can contribute towards triggering the disorder.

The symptoms include recurrent coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness.