Environment Pollution and Climate Change
Open Access

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely used component of consumer plastics and a common environmental chemical. Previously, we showed that BPA affected the physiology of the freshwater oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus. In the present study, we examined whether the impact of BPA on L. variegatus was mediated by an endocrine disrupting mechanism, using pulsing rate of the dorsal blood vessel as the endpoint. Both long term and acute exposures to BPA increased the pulsing rate. The former had a distinct inverted-U dose response relationship, while the latter had a monotonic one. The effects of BPA were mimicked by the synthetic estrogen ethinylestradiol. The sensitivity of L.variegatus to estrogens was exquisite, with detectable effects at pM range. Both the long term and acute effects of BPA were partially or fully blocked by various antagonists of mammalian estrogen receptors, including ICI 182,780, MPP and G15. Our results suggest that the impacts of BPA on pulsing rate of L. variegatus are likely mediated by activation of an estrogen receptor. Our results also have implication for the endocrine physiology of oligochaete, and for the evolution of estrogen receptors.

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