Toxicity assessment on trophoblast cells for some environment polluting chemicals and 17β-estradiol

► Estrogen-like chemicals at μM-mM concentrations have cytotoxic effects on BeWo and HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cells. ► Estrogen-like chemicals at non-cytotoxic (pM-nM) concentrations alter β-hCG secretion in BeWo trophoblast-like cells. ► BeWo cells are a suitable model for studying the effects of low doses of various environmental chemicals on human placenta.