@article{mccaffrey_jones_mabrey_weiss_swan_patisaul_2013, title={Sex specific impact of perinatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure over a range of orally administered doses on rat hypothalamic sexual differentiation}, volume={36}, ISSN={["1872-9711"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.neuro.2013.03.001}, abstractNote={Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high volume production chemical used in polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resins, thermal paper receipts, and other household products. The neural effects of early life BPA exposure, particularly to low doses administered orally, remain unclear. Thus, to better characterize the dose range over which BPA alters sex specific neuroanatomy, we examined the impact of perinatal BPA exposure on two sexually dimorphic regions in the anterior hypothalamus, the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) and the anterioventral periventricular (AVPV) nucleus. Both are sexually differentiated by estradiol and play a role in sex specific reproductive physiology and behavior. Long Evans rats were prenatally exposed to 10, 100, 1000, 10,000μg/kg bw/day BPA through daily, non-invasive oral administration of dosed-cookies to the dams. Offspring were reared to adulthood. Their brains were collected and immunolabeled for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the AVPV and calbindin (CALB) in the SDN-POA. We observed decreased TH-ir cell numbers in the female AVPV across all exposure groups, an effect indicative of masculinization. In males, AVPV TH-ir cell numbers were significantly reduced in only the BPA 10 and BPA 10,000 groups. SDN-POA endpoints were unaltered in females but in males SDN-POA volume was significantly lower in all BPA exposure groups. CALB-ir was significantly lower in all but the BPA 1000 group. These effects are consistent with demasculinization. Collectively these data demonstrate that early life oral exposure to BPA at levels well below the current No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of 50mg/kg/day can alter sex specific hypothalamic morphology in the rat.}, journal={NEUROTOXICOLOGY}, author={McCaffrey, Katherine A. and Jones, Brian and Mabrey, Natalie and Weiss, Bernard and Swan, Shanna H. and Patisaul, Heather B.}, year={2013}, month={May}, pages={55–62} }
 @article{patisaul_roberts_mabrey_mccaffrey_gear_braun_belcher_stapleton_2012, title={Accumulation and Endocrine Disrupting Effects of the Flame Retardant Mixture Firemaster®550 in Rats: An Exploratory Assessment}, volume={27}, ISSN={1095-6670}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jbt.21439}, DOI={10.1002/jbt.21439}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT}, number={2}, journal={Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Patisaul, Heather B. and Roberts, Simon C. and Mabrey, Natalie and McCaffrey, Katherine A. and Gear, Robin B. and Braun, Joe and Belcher, Scott M. and Stapleton, Heather M.}, year={2012}, month={Nov}, pages={124–136} }
 @article{guenard_mccaffrey_lucky_dunn_2012, title={Ants of North Carolina: An updated list (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)}, number={3552}, journal={Zootaxa}, author={Guenard, B. and Mccaffrey, K. A. and Lucky, A. and Dunn, R. R.}, year={2012}, pages={1–36} }
 @article{losa-ward_todd_mccaffrey_tsutsui_patisaul_2012, title={Disrupted Organization of RFamide Pathways in the Hypothalamus Is Associated with Advanced Puberty in Female Rats Neonatally Exposed to Bisphenol A}, volume={87}, ISSN={["1529-7268"]}, DOI={10.1095/biolreprod.112.100826}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT Hypothalamic neurons, which produce the kisspeptin family of peptide hormones (Kp), are critical for initiating puberty and maintaining estrous cyclicity by stimulating gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) release. Conversely, RFamide-related peptide-3 (RFRP3) neurons inhibit GnRH activity. It has previously been shown that neonatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) can alter the timing of female pubertal onset and induce irregular estrous cycles or premature anestrus. Here we tested the hypothesis that disrupted ontogeny of RFamide signaling pathways may be a mechanism underlying advanced puberty. To test this, we used a transgenic strain of Wistar rats whose GnRH neurons express enhanced green fluorescent protein. Pups were exposed by daily subcutaneous injection to vehicle, 17beta-estradiol (E2), 50 μg/kg BPA, or 50 mg/kg BPA, from Postnatal Day (PND) 0 through PND 3, and then cohorts were euthanized on PNDs 17, 21, 24, 28, and 33 (5–8 animals per age per exposure; males were collected on PNDs 21 and 33). Vaginal opening was advanced by E2 and 50 μg/kg BPA. On PND 28, females exposed to E2 and 50 μg/kg BPA had decreased RFRP-3 fiber density and contacts on GnRH neurons. RFRP3 perikarya were also decreased in females exposed to 50 μg/kg BPA. Data suggest that BPA-induced premature puberty results from decreased inhibition of GnRH neurons.}, number={2}, journal={BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION}, author={Losa-Ward, Sandra M. and Todd, Karina L. and McCaffrey, Katherine A. and Tsutsui, Kazuyoshi and Patisaul, Heather B.}, year={2012}, month={Aug} }
 @article{mccaffrey_hawkins_godwin_2011, title={Sexual Phenotype Differences in zic2 mRNA Abundance in the Preoptic Area of a Protogynous Teleost, Thalassoma bifasciatum}, volume={6}, ISSN={["1932-6203"]}, DOI={10.1371/journal.pone.0023213}, abstractNote={The highly conserved members of the zic family of zinc-finger transcription factors are primarily known for their roles in embryonic signaling pathways and regulation of cellular proliferation and differentiation. This study describes sexual phenotype differences in abundances of zic2 mRNA in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus, a region strongly implicated in sexual behavior and function, in an adult teleost, Thalassoma bifasciatum. The bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) is a valuable model for studying neuroendocrine processes because it displays two discrete male phenotypes, initial phase (IP) males and territorial, terminal phase (TP) males, and undergoes socially-controlled protogynous sex change. Previously generated microarray-based comparisons suggested that zic2 was upregulated in the brains of terminal phase males relative to initial phase males. To further explore this difference, we cloned a 727 bp sequence for neural zic2 from field-collected animals. Riboprobe-based in situ hybridization was employed to localize zic2 signal in adult bluehead brains and assess the relative abundance of brain zic2 mRNA across sexual phenotypes. We found zic2 mRNA expression was extremely abundant in the granular cells of the cerebellum and widespread in other brain regions including in the thalamus, hypothalamus, habenula, torus semicircularis, torus longitudinalis, medial longitudinal fascicle and telencephalic areas. Quantitative autoradiography and phosphorimaging showed zic2 mRNA hybridization signal in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus was significantly higher in terminal phase males relative to both initial phase males and females, and silver grain analysis confirmed this relationship between phenotypes. No significant difference in abundance was found in zic2 signal across phenotypes in the habenula, a brain region not implicated in the control of sexual behavior, or cerebellum.}, number={8}, journal={PLOS ONE}, author={McCaffrey, Katherine and Hawkins, Mary Beth and Godwin, John}, year={2011}, month={Aug} }