Postnatal maternal care normalizes the medial preoptic area DNA methylome following prenatal bisphenol exposure
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton St., Austin, Texas 78712 USA
- 2Center for Molecular Carcinogenesis and Toxicology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas USA
- 3Center for Biomedical Research Support, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas USA
- 4Department of Psychiatry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH USA
Abstract
Background: Environmental exposures co-occurring during early life have a profound influence on neurodevelopment. Our previous work in rats suggests that postnatal maternal care modulates the effects of prenatal exposure to bisphenols, an estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemical, on offspring neurodevelopment. Elevated maternal licking/grooming and prenatal bisphenol exposure have opposing effects on estrogen receptor expression in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), which could impact expression of estrogen-responsive genes. We hypothesized that maternal licking/grooming would mitigate the effects of prenatal bisphenol exposure on estrogen receptor signaling in the developing MPOA. In addition, we hypothesized that there would be interactive effects of prenatal bisphenol exposure and maternal licking/grooming on DNA methylation nearby estrogen responsive elements.
Results: Female pups prenatally exposed to bisphenols had elevated estrogen-related receptor gamma (Esrrg) expression in the MPOA, which was reduced for pups that received higher levels of maternal licking/grooming. These mitigating impacts were also evident in co-expression gene profiles that were enriched for estrogen-responsive genes and genes that interact with estrogen receptors. DNA methylation analyses indicated that maternal licking/grooming levels influenced the number of differentially methylated regions for prenatal bisphenol-exposed pups. These differentially methylated regions were enriched for binding sites for transcription factors that interact with estrogen receptors. Finally, supplemental “licking-like” tactile stimulation normalized the DNA methylome in prenatal bisphenol-exposed female pups, with an increase and normalization of ESRRG binding to ESRRG-responsive genes.
Conclusions: These results identify a novel biological mechanism in which maternal licking/grooming can mitigate the potential adverse neurodevelopmental impacts of prenatal bisphenol exposure and provides a proof-of-concept for postnatal tactile stimulation as a potential intervention strategy to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-13265-x.
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BibTeX
@article{lauby2026postnatal,
title = {{Postnatal maternal care normalizes the medial preoptic area DNA methylome following prenatal bisphenol exposure}},
author = {Samantha C. Lauby and Dennis C. Wylie and Hannah E. Lapp and Melissa Salazar and Amy E. Margolis and Frances A. Champagne},
journal = {BMC Genomics},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12864-026-13265-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-13265-x},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Postnatal maternal care normalizes the medial preoptic area DNA methylome following prenatal bisphenol exposure
AU - Samantha C. Lauby
AU - Dennis C. Wylie
AU - Hannah E. Lapp
AU - Melissa Salazar
AU - Amy E. Margolis
AU - Frances A. Champagne
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/10
JO - BMC Genomics
DO - 10.1186/s12864-026-13265-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-13265-x
AB - Background: Environmental exposures co-occurring during early life have a profound influence on neurodevelopment. Our previous work in rats suggests that postnatal maternal care modulates the effects of prenatal exposure to bisphenols, an estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemical, on offspring neurodevelopment. Elevated maternal licking/grooming and prenatal bisphenol exposure have opposing effects on estrogen receptor expression in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), which could impact expression of estrogen-responsive genes. We hypothesized that maternal licking/grooming would mitigate the effects of prenatal bisphenol exposure on estrogen receptor signaling in the developing MPOA. In addition, we hypothesized that there would be interactive effects of prenatal bisphenol exposure and maternal licking/grooming on DNA methylation nearby estrogen responsive elements. Results: Female pups prenatally exposed to bisphenols had elevated estrogen-related receptor gamma (Esrrg) expression in the MPOA, which was reduced for pups that received higher levels of maternal licking/grooming. These mitigating impacts were also evident in co-expression gene profiles that were enriched for estrogen-responsive genes and genes that interact with estrogen receptors. DNA methylation analyses indicated that maternal licking/grooming levels influenced the number of differentially methylated regions for prenatal bisphenol-exposed pups. These differentially methylated regions were enriched for binding sites for transcription factors that interact with estrogen receptors. Finally, supplemental “licking-like” tactile stimulation normalized the DNA methylome in prenatal bisphenol-exposed female pups, with an increase and normalization of ESRRG binding to ESRRG-responsive genes. Conclusions: These results identify a novel biological mechanism in which maternal licking/grooming can mitigate the potential adverse neurodevelopmental impacts of prenatal bisphenol exposure and provides a proof-of-concept for postnatal tactile stimulation as a potential intervention strategy to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-13265-x.
SN - 1471-2164
ER -