Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Binary Mixtures of Bisphenol A and Heavy Metals

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) and heavy metals are widespread contaminants in the environment. However, the combined toxicities of these contaminants are still unknown. In this study, the bioluminescent bacteria Vibrio qinghaiensis Q67 was used to detect the single and combined toxicities of BPA and heavy metals, then the joint effects of these contaminants were evaluated. The results show that chronic toxicities of chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), and BPA were time–dependent; in fact, the acute toxicities of these contaminants were stronger than the chronic toxicities. Furthermore, the combined toxicities of BPA and heavy metals displayed BPA + Hg > BPA + Cr > BPA + As > BPA + Ni > BPA + Pb > BPA + Cd in the acute test and BPA + Hg > BPA + Cd > BPA + As > BPA + Cd in the chronic test, which suggested that the combined toxicity of BPA and Hg was stronger than that of other mixtures in acute as well as chronic tests. Additionally, both CA and IA models underestimated the toxicities of mixtures at low concentrations but overestimated them at high concentrations, which indicates that CA and IA models were not suitable to predict the toxicities of mixtures of BPA and heavy metals. Moreover, the joint effects of BPA and heavy metals mainly showed antagonism and additive in the context of acute exposure but synergism and additive in the context of chronic exposure. Indeed, the difference in the joint effects on acute and chronic exposure can be explained by the possibility that mixtures inhibited cell growth and luminescence in chronic cultivation. The chronic toxicity of the mixture should be considered if the mixture results in the inhibition of the growth of cells.

Cytotoxicity and Antioxidant Defences in Euplotes aediculatus Exposed to Single and Binary Mixtures of Heavy Metals and Nanoparticles

“…Anthropogenic activities contribute significantly to ecosystem pollution, a global challenge, with heavy metals (HMs) and nanoparticles (NPs) emerging as key pollutants [2,3]. Research on the interaction between HMs/NPs and ciliated protists is limited [29,31,36,41,57], especially compared to studies on other organisms [37,[58][59][60][61][62][63][64]. Cell biomass plays a pivotal role in bioassay treatments, modifying pollutant bioavailability and enhancing data accu-racy [65].…”

Mixture Effects of Bisphenol A and Its Structural Analogs on Estrogen Receptor Transcriptional Activation

“…Even with the increasing reports on the exposure of a mixture of bisphenol compounds, only a few of them have been published on the estrogenic activity of the mixtures [ 26 , 27 ]. Some tests on the mixture effects of BPA were performed with non-bisphenol compounds such as heavy metals, phthalates, and alkylphenols [ 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”