Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study

The CLARITY-BPA Core Study is the most comprehensive animal study of oral bisphenol A (BPA) exposure to date. Rats were exposed daily, in utero until postnatal day 21 or for the animals’ lifetime. While the study authors concluded that several observations at the highest dose may be BPA treatment-re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Melissa Badding, Noor Aly, Kevin Sondenheimer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Toxicology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2025.1639737/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849231582734319616
author Melissa Badding
Noor Aly
Kevin Sondenheimer
author_facet Melissa Badding
Noor Aly
Kevin Sondenheimer
author_sort Melissa Badding
collection DOAJ
description The CLARITY-BPA Core Study is the most comprehensive animal study of oral bisphenol A (BPA) exposure to date. Rats were exposed daily, in utero until postnatal day 21 or for the animals’ lifetime. While the study authors concluded that several observations at the highest dose may be BPA treatment-related, a No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level (NOAEL) has not been proposed in the published reports. Therefore, select endpoints deemed by the study authors to be potentially BPA treatment-related were further evaluated to determine a NOAEL. These include findings in the female reproductive tract and male pituitary gland at the highest dose level (25,000 μg/kg-bw/day). The data were examined for dose-response, relevance, and consistency of findings across study arms and timepoints, histopathological progression, and concordance with the estradiol positive control. Based on our evaluation, some of the female reproductive tract findings are possibly BPA treatment-related. However, there is a lack of consistency between study arms and/or timepoints, no significant dose-response, and a lack of progression to tumors for proliferative findings. Finally, the findings from the Core Study agree with previous high-quality guideline studies which determined that BPA did not pose adverse effects at doses below 25,000 μg/kg-bw/day in rodents. Altogether, some findings from the Core Study may be BPA treatment-related but they should not be considered adverse. Therefore, we hypothesize that the NOAEL from the Core Study is reasonably considered to be 25,000 μg/kg-bw/day.
format Article
id doaj-art-9eb27f4d802a44e6b38b0c45a218ea75
institution Kabale University
issn 2673-3080
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Toxicology
spelling doaj-art-9eb27f4d802a44e6b38b0c45a218ea752025-08-21T05:27:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Toxicology2673-30802025-08-01710.3389/ftox.2025.16397371639737Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core studyMelissa Badding0Noor Aly1Kevin Sondenheimer2Exponent, Inc., Alexandria, VA, United StatesExponent, Inc., Alexandria, VA, United StatesCovestro Deutschland AG, Leverkusen, GermanyThe CLARITY-BPA Core Study is the most comprehensive animal study of oral bisphenol A (BPA) exposure to date. Rats were exposed daily, in utero until postnatal day 21 or for the animals’ lifetime. While the study authors concluded that several observations at the highest dose may be BPA treatment-related, a No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level (NOAEL) has not been proposed in the published reports. Therefore, select endpoints deemed by the study authors to be potentially BPA treatment-related were further evaluated to determine a NOAEL. These include findings in the female reproductive tract and male pituitary gland at the highest dose level (25,000 μg/kg-bw/day). The data were examined for dose-response, relevance, and consistency of findings across study arms and timepoints, histopathological progression, and concordance with the estradiol positive control. Based on our evaluation, some of the female reproductive tract findings are possibly BPA treatment-related. However, there is a lack of consistency between study arms and/or timepoints, no significant dose-response, and a lack of progression to tumors for proliferative findings. Finally, the findings from the Core Study agree with previous high-quality guideline studies which determined that BPA did not pose adverse effects at doses below 25,000 μg/kg-bw/day in rodents. Altogether, some findings from the Core Study may be BPA treatment-related but they should not be considered adverse. Therefore, we hypothesize that the NOAEL from the Core Study is reasonably considered to be 25,000 μg/kg-bw/day.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2025.1639737/fullbisphenol A (BPA)CLARITY-BPAno-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL)risk assessmentreproductive toxicity
spellingShingle Melissa Badding
Noor Aly
Kevin Sondenheimer
Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study
Frontiers in Toxicology
bisphenol A (BPA)
CLARITY-BPA
no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL)
risk assessment
reproductive toxicity
title Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study
title_full Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study
title_fullStr Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study
title_full_unstemmed Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study
title_short Determining a NOAEL for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on BPA toxicity (CLARITY-BPA) core study
title_sort determining a noael for the consortium linking academic and regulatory insights on bpa toxicity clarity bpa core study
topic bisphenol A (BPA)
CLARITY-BPA
no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL)
risk assessment
reproductive toxicity
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2025.1639737/full
work_keys_str_mv AT melissabadding determininganoaelfortheconsortiumlinkingacademicandregulatoryinsightsonbpatoxicityclaritybpacorestudy
AT nooraly determininganoaelfortheconsortiumlinkingacademicandregulatoryinsightsonbpatoxicityclaritybpacorestudy
AT kevinsondenheimer determininganoaelfortheconsortiumlinkingacademicandregulatoryinsightsonbpatoxicityclaritybpacorestudy