Positive relationship between androgen and the endocrine disruptor, bisphenol A, in normal women and women with ovarian dysfunction

This study was performed to investigate the serum levels of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor, in women with ovarian dysfunction and obesity. Fasting serum samples were obtained from 19 non-obese and 7 obese women with normal menstrual cycles: 7 patients with hyperprolactinemia, 21 patients with hypothalamic amenorrhea, and 13 non-obese and 6 obese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). BPA was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. BPA was detected in all human sera. Serum BPA concentrations were significantly higher in both non-obese and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (1.05 +/- 0.10 ng/ml, 1.17 +/- 0.16 ng/ml; p < 0.05, respectively) and obese normal women (1.04 +/- 0.09 ng/ml, p < 0.05) compared with those in non-obese normal women (0.71 +/- 0.09 ng/ml). There was no difference among women with hyperprolactinemia, women with hypothalamic amenorrhea, and non-obese normal women. There were significant positive correlations between serum BPA and total testosterone (r = 0.391, p < 0.001), free testosterone (r = 0.504, p < 0.001), androstenedione (r = 0.684, p < 0.001), and DHEAS (r = 0.514, p < 0.001) concentrations in all subjects. These findings show that there is a strong relationship between serum BPA and androgen concentrations, speculatively due to the effect of androgen on the metabolism of BPA.