Abstract
PURPOSE: Increasing levels of infertility in Western countries has drawn ever more scientific attention to the role in this trend of endocrine disruptors, such as bisphenol A, a substance now banned in some cases and some countries. Because this substance has been replaced by the structurally similar bisphenol S (BPS), this study focused on the effects of the latter on early mice embryo development. METHODS: Cultures of CD1 mice embryos with varying concentrations of BPS were compared with control blank cultures in order to examine the survival rate of embryos according to BPS concentration and culture day. RESULTS: The administration of BPS at any dose (1, 10, and 100 pg/ml) in cultures of mice embryos led to a significant decrease in their survival rate. The negative effect of BPS was seen to start early (day 1 of experiment), even with the lowest employed dose (1 pg/ml). CONCLUSIONS: This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study to investigate the impact of BPS on the survival rate of mice embryos. In this study, potential adverse effects of BPS on early CD1 mice embryo development with regard to survival rate have been identified. Dose of BPS, timing of BPS administration, and time duration of exposure play a critical role in the decrease of mice embryo survival rate as compared to control cultures. These findings raise concerns regarding the safety of BPS and highlight the need for further research into the effect of this substance on human embryos.