Endocrine-Independent Cytotoxicity of Bisphenol A Is Mediated by Increased Levels of Reactive Oxygen Species and Affects Cell Cycle Progression

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used for the production of plastics and epoxy resins, which are part of packaging materials for food and beverages, and can migrate into food and the environment, thus exposing human beings to its effects. Exposure to BPA has been associated with oxidative stress, cell cycle changes, and genotoxicity, and is mediated by its known endocrine-disrupting activity. Possible BPA cytotoxicity without mediation by estrogen receptors has been reported in the literature. Here, we show the toxic effects of BPA by live-cell imaging on the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, an experimental model lacking estrogen receptors, which were in line with data from flow cytometry on intracellular oxidation (76.4 +/- 14.4 and 19.4 +/- 16.1% of fluorescent cells for BPA treatment and control, respectively; p < 0.05) as well as delay in cell cycle progression (after 90 min of experiment, 48.4 +/- 4.30 and 64.6 +/- 5.46% of cells with a 4C DNA content for BPA treatment and control, respectively; p < 0.05) upon exposure to BPA. These results strongly support the possibilities that BPA-induced cell cycle changes can be independent of estrogen receptors and that live-cell imaging is a powerful tool for genotoxic analysis.