Bisphenol A – Sources, toxicity and biotransformation

• Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic xenoestrogen widespread in the environment.
• Man is exposed to BPA mainly by food and to a lower extent by drinking water and dust.
• BPA exhibits toxic, endocrine, mutagenic and carcinogenic effect in living organisms.
• BPA is supposed to elevate risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in humans.
• Animals, plants, and in particular microorganisms can efficiently biotransform BPA.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound used in massive amounts in the production of synthetic polymers and thermal paper. In this review, the sources of BPA, which influence its occurrence in the environment and human surrounding will be presented. Data concerning BPA occurrence in food, water and indoor environments as well as its appearance in tissues and body fluids of human body will be shown. The results of in vitro and in vivo studies and the results of epidemiological surveys showing toxic, endocrine, mutagenic and cancerogenic action of BPA will also be discussed. Moreover, data suggesting that exposure of human to BPA may elevate risk of obesity, diabetes and coronary heart diseases will be presented. Finally, biotransformation of BPA in animals, plants and microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae), resulting in the formation of various metabolites that exhibit different from BPA toxicity will be described.