Maternal exposure to isobutyl-paraben impairs social recognition in adult female rats.

Isobutyl-paraben (IBP), a widely used preservative, exhibits estrogenic activity. We analyzed the effects of exposure to IBP during gestation and lactation via dam on social recognition behavior in ovariectomized offspring of Sprague-Dawley rats. Offspring were ovariectomized at 7 weeks of age, and were used in a social recognition test at 16 weeks of age. Each offspring was exposed to a novel ovariectomized rat four times and to a second novel rat in a fifth exposure. We counted the investigations by offspring of intruder rats. The IBP-exposed rats showed impaired social behavior compared with controls. These data imply that early exposure to IBP may have an effect on adult social behavior, which is reported to be an autism spectrum disorders in humans.