Non-cytotoxic nanomolar concentrations of bisphenol A induce human mesenchymal stem cell adipogenesis and osteogenesis.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a typical endocrine disrupting chemical with extensive applications, and has been correlated with various hazardous health effects, including obesity and other metabolic-related diseases. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), due to their abilities to differentiate into adipocytes and osteoblasts, can be a good in vitro model to assess chemical-dependent toxicity on adipogenesis or osteogenesis. Here, we employed hMSCs as an evaluation system to assess BPA-related effects on cell viability, oxidative stress induction, self-renewal, and differentiation. Our results revealed that low concentrations (1 and 10 nM) of BPA did not impair cell proliferation nor self-renewal capacity, but stimulated adipogenesis and osteogenesis. Our findings support the concern of BPA contributing to the epidemic of obesity, and also reveal its underlying toxicity on osteogenesis.