BPA Substitute May Pose Toxic to Heart Health

Now generally considered as an endocrine disrupting chemical, bisphenol A (BPA) has been widely used in the production of plastic consumer goods. Its chemical cousin, bisphenol S (BPS), is increasingly becoming an alternative to BPA, yet health risks of BPS remain largely unknown.  Hong-Sheng Wang, from the University of Cincinnati (Ohio, USA), and colleagues perfused, BPS through the arteries of the hearts of live lab rats, which were chemically stimulated to mimic stress. Exposure to BPS rapidly increased the heart rate of female rats and under the stress condition led to arrhythmias—heart rhythm abnormalities—far greater than in the control rats that did not receive BPS. Among the female fats, electocardiograms demonstrated that BPS caused extra heartbeats and a racing heartbeat, also known as ventricular tachycardia. To determine the cause of the cardiac effects in female rats, the researchers studied cardiac muscle cells from some of the rats. Using studies at the cellular and protein levels, they found that BPS caused abnormal calcium handling, or cycling, which is a key cause of arrhythmias