Developmental and genotoxic effects of emerging compounds Bisphenol-a and analogues on the commercial bivalves<i> Mytilus</i> galloprovincialis

Many new chemicals are emerging every day, such as endocrine disrupting chemicals (Bisphenol S, Bisphenol AF, Bisphenol F and Bisphenol B), which are not included in legal monitoring programs and whose fate and biological effects are not sufficiently understood. Nowadays, the assessment of ecosystem health related to BPA and its analogues is a major concern, especially in the marine environment: in this context, data on the effects on early life stages are important to determine the sensitivity of marine species. For this purpose, toxicity tests were performed on the embryos of commercial bivalves (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and the toxicity of BPA, BPS, BPF, BPAF and BPB, the most important industrial chemicals synthesized for different applications instead of BPA, were measured in terms of embryogenesis success and median effective concentration (EC50). The EC50 values were calculated as: 0.476 mg-BPA/L, 0.558 pg-BPS/L, 0.410 pg-BPF/L, 0.509 pg-BPAF/L and 0.419 pg-BPB/L. It was seen that BPS, another derivative, exhibits a lower effect than BPA. However, concentrations above the determined effective levels have been shown to limit the survival of living organisms, as demonstrated by embryotoxicity results. The calculated EC50 values for BPF, BPAF, and BPB clearly show that these components also cause developmental abnormalities in mussels and have a significant potential for biological activity. Also, genotoxic/mutagenic effects of BPA and its alternatives were tested. Micronuclei (MN) test was performed using hemolymph and gill cells of M. galloprovincialis. The MN frequencies detected in cells showed that BPAF was more genotoxic than other compounds at 26% compared to the control group. This chemical was followed by BPB with a 24% MN frequency. The other compounds (BPF, BPS) were 15-19% MN genotoxic, but it was revealed that they had a lower effect than the others. Additionally, it was demonstrated that at environmental concentrations, these compounds cause genotoxic effects on the species M. galloprovincialis, triggering the formation of cancer cells. This research showed that BPA and its analogues were found as toxic and mutagenic/ genotoxic compounds. In conclusion, the obtained EC50 values are critically important in the toxicological assessment of chemical components.