“Parabens are ubiquitous preservatives in cosmetics, foods, and pharmaceuticals, and are recognized as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs thus have consequences for fertility and pregnancy. Propylparaben (PP) has been associated with adverse reproductive outcomes, yet its impact on uterine tissue is poorly understood. Here, we investigated how chronic PP exposure alters the uterine microenvironment, specifically by inducing inflammation and fibrosis, and altering estrogen signaling. Fibrosis was characterized by probing collagen microstructure and mechanics using a multimodal, multiscale approach. Second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy revealed significant and heterogeneous increases in the forward-to-backward (F/B) signal ratio and disruption of collagen organization in the myometrium, consistent with remodeling. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) demonstrated nanoscale changes in fibril size and organization that contributed to the altered F/B signal.
To link microstructural changes to function, we integrated SHG and AFM with nanoindentation (NI), which identified heterogeneous regions of altered stiffness. Supported by CZ Biohub Chicago and a large collaborative effort, we are extending this work with novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approaches and inflation testing to assess PP-induced inflammation and fibrosis at the tissue scale. Collectively, this work will demonstrate how PP exposure perturbs uterine collagen across scales, offering mechanistic insight into how widely used chemicals may contribute to uterine inflammation, fibrosis, fertility challenges, and pregnancy complications.
Amy Wagoner Johnson,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Professor Amy Wagoner Johnson is faculty member in mechanical science & engineering in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is an Andersen Faculty Scholar and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago Investigator, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE, 2022) and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME, 2024). She was a Chair of Excellence at the NanoSciences Foundation (Grenoble, France, 2014-2017) and a Center for Advanced Study Associate (2017-2018) to initiate a project on coral restoration.
She has affiliate appointments in the Department of Bioengineering, and Departments of Biomedical and Translational Science and Clinical Sciences in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, as well as the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, where she is a Core Member of two research themes: Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering (ReBTE) and Environmental Impacts for Reproductive Health (EIRH). She was the Head of the Biomedical and Translational Sciences Department in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the first engineering-based college of medicine, from 2019-2024.