Low-level arsenic exposure before birth associated with early puberty and obesity in female mice

NIH | OCTOBER 9, 2015

Female mice exposed in utero, or in the womb, to low levels of arsenic through drinking water displayed signs of early puberty and became obese as adults.

Scientists divided pregnant mice into three groups. The control group received no arsenic in its drinking water, while the two experimental groups received either the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 10 parts per billion of arsenic or 42.5 parts per million of arsenic, a level known to have detrimental effects in mice. One part per billion is a thousand times smaller than one part per million.

The mice were exposed during gestation, between 10 days after fertilization and birth, which corresponds to the middle of the first trimester and birth in humans.

The researchers did not examine in this study whether males also experienced early onset puberty, but they did confirm that male mice exposed to arsenic in utero also displayed weight gain as they aged. Both the low and high doses of arsenic resulted in weight gain.

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