Title: Exposure to the BPA-Substitute Bisphenol S Causes Unique Alterations of Germline Function.

Authors: Chen, Yichang; Shu, Le; Qiu, Zhiqun; Lee, Dong Yeon; Settle, Sara J; Que Hee, Shane; Telesca, Donatello; Yang, Xia; Allard, Patrick

Published In PLoS Genet, (2016 Jul)

Abstract: Concerns about the safety of Bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastics, receipts, food packaging and more, have led to its replacement with substitutes now found in a multitude of consumer products. However, several popular BPA-free alternatives, such as Bisphenol S, share a high degree of structural similarity with BPA, suggesting that these substitutes may disrupt similar developmental and reproductive pathways. We compared the effects of BPA and BPS on germline and reproductive functions using the genetic model system Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that, similarly to BPA, BPS caused severe reproductive defects including germline apoptosis and embryonic lethality. However, meiotic recombination, targeted gene expression, whole transcriptome and ontology analyses as well as ToxCast data mining all indicate that these effects are partly achieved via mechanisms distinct from BPAs. These findings therefore raise new concerns about the safety of BPA alternatives and the risk associated with human exposure to mixtures.

PubMed ID: 27472198

MeSH Terms: Animals; Apoptosis/drug effects; Benzhydryl Compounds/toxicity*; Caenorhabditis elegans/drug effects*; Caenorhabditis elegans/genetics; Caenorhabditis elegans/growth & development; Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects; Embryonic Development/genetics; Food Packaging; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental/drug effects; Germ Cells/drug effects*; Humans; Phenols/toxicity*; Protein Biosynthesis/drug effects; Sulfones/toxicity*; Transcriptome/drug effects