EFFECTS OF BISPHENOL A ON NEONATAL CARDIOMYOCYTES BEATING RATE AND MORPHOLOGY

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been utilised excessively at a global capacity of 2.9 billion kg/year. It is widely used in manufacturing polycarbonate polymers and epoxy resins. Hence, humans are potentially exposed to this chemical substance in their daily life. As a typical endocrine disruptor, BPA exhibits detectable hormone-like properties. Many studies have been linking BPA exposure in humans with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, however the direct exposure of BPA on cardiomyocytes beating rates and morphology have not been entirely explored. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of BPA on cells structure and function of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes culture. Cardiomyocytes were isolated from 0 to 2 days old newborn rats and treated with 0.001 to 100 µM concentration of BPA. All cardiomyocytes were subjected to immunostaining, beating frequency assessment assay, MTS assay and Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM). In immunostaining, cardiomyocytes showed positive staining for F-actin. This staining allows identification of the cells thus differentiate cardiomyocytes from other cell types. Significance effects of BPA on cardiomyocytes were observed in MTS assay (p