In vitro model to study the endocrine disrupting activity of migration products from plastic food contact materials

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound mainly used for the manufacture of plastic such as polycarbonate. This transparent thermoplastic polymer is used for the fabrication of several food containers like baby bottle … BPA can migrate into food in contact with polycarbonate. There is a worldwide concern about BPA because several studies have shown endocrine disruptor potency of BPA causing possible adverse health effects.
In January 2011, the European Commission decided to ban the use of polycarbonate to manufacture baby feeding bottles. In a recent opinion, the Superior Health Council’s issued its concern regarding the currently use of alternatives to polycarbonate in these materials.
This work is part of the ALTPOLYCARB project which aims to study the migration products of alternative to polycarbonate and their endocrine disruptor activities.
The first part was to have an overview of the different polymers replacing polycarbonate, that are used on the Belgian market, it resulted in the conclusion that polymers used for the manufacture of baby bottles are mainly polypropylene, polyethersulfone, silicone, polyamide, polystyrene, and melamine. The second part of this work will be to evaluate the endocrine disruptor activity(ies) of global migration residues obtained from different kinds of baby bottles. This (these) activity(ies) will be explored using cell based transactivational assays also named “reporter gene assays. The MCF7 recombinant cells used here are genitically modified cells containing the firefly luciferase gene, as a reporter gene, and a DNA responsive element specific to the human oestrogen receptor. The biological activity of a chemical compound is monitored by the measurement of light emitted by the cells exposed to it (after addition of luciferin, the substrate of luciferase).
In a preliminary step, we first screened pure substances which were shown to migrate from plastic baby bottle, in a recent study performed by Simoneau & al, 2012 .
Human estrogen receptor agonistic and antagonistic activities of 25 pure compounds were measured using MCF7-ER cells (genetically modified MCF7 cells). After the first screening, some substances clearly show an activity such as BPA, Benzophenone, 2-Propenoic acid-2-ethylhexyl ester, Benzaldehyde-4-methylthio, Butylated hydroxytoluene and Dodecanoic acid, methyl ester whereas others ask an in-depth analysis to confirm their activity. For active substances only the study will be continued and a full dose-response curve will be performed in order to assess quantitatively the activity