Bisphenol A Metabolites and Bisphenol S in Paired Maternal and Cord Serum

Abstract

Human studies show associations between maternal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure and developmental effects in children, yet biomonitoring of BPA metabolites in maternal and fetal serum remains limited, and less is known for BPA alternatives. BPA-glucuronide, BPA-sulfate, and bisphenol S (BPS) were quantified in 61 pairs of maternal and cord sera from Chinese participants. Total BPS was only detectable in four maternal (<0.03-0.07 ng/mL) and seven cord sera (<0.03-0.12 ng/mL), indicating low exposure but providing the first evidence that BPS crosses the human placenta. Total BPA metabolites in cord serum were significantly higher than in maternal serum (p < 0.05), suggesting that these may be formed in the fetus or cleared more slowly from the fetoplacental compartment. Unlike the pharmacokinetic results from controlled oral exposure studies in which BPA-glucuronide is the major BPA metabolite, here, BPA-sulfate was the dominant metabolite (GM: 0.06 and 0.08 ng/mL), significantly higher than BPA-glucuronide (GM: 0.02 and 0.04 ng/mL) (p < 0.01) in both maternal and cord sera. Moreover, the proportion of BPA-sulfate increased with total BPA. These are the first human data for BPA metabolites in paired maternal and cord serum, and results suggest that the human fetus and pregnant mother have unique exposure to BPA metabolites. Direct analysis of BPA metabolites in serum provides complementary information for evaluating early life-stage exposure and risks of BPA.

First trimester maternal exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals and metals and fetal size in the Michigan Mother–Infant Pairs study

“…We also observed a significant association between decreased birth weight and BPSa replacement chemical for BPA with endocrine-disrupting potential that has recently been detected in populations from around the world. 34 Prior evidence suggests that BPS crosses the placenta in humans, 46 and this is one of the first studies to our knowledge to examine associations between birth outcomes and BPS. Rodent models of perinatal BPS exposure have identified health effects manifesting later in life, including at dose levels below the recommended daily intake for humans.…”

Immune Cells in the Uterine Remodeling: Are They the Target of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals?

“…Companies increasingly advertise for their BPA-free products (Websites European chemicals agency, Umweltbundesamt). What the consumers do not know is, that BPA is replaced by other bisphenols like bisphenol F or S that show comparable or even worse harmful developmental effects and are able to cross the placenta (156,157). It was recently shown that the exposure of the population to BPA substitutes is almost ubiquitous (158).…”

Development of an on-line solid phase extraction ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography technique coupled to tandem mass spectrometry for quantification of bisphenol S and bisphenol S glucuronide: Applicability to toxicokinetic investigations

“…Bisphenols are usually extracted from matrices by solid phase extraction (SPE) and quantified by gas or liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (GC or LC-MS/MS) [20]. Numerous methods have already been described for BPS assay in environmental matrices such as indoor dust, sludge, water, soil, sediment [10,21,22], consumer products [7] and foodstuffs [5,6,9,23], but few have been developed for biological fluids [24,25]. In these complex matrices, BPS has systematically been measured after enzymatic hydrolysis which provides a measure of total BPS concentrations, i.e.the concentrations of both BPS and its conjugated metabolites.…”