Toxicity screening of bisphenol A replacement compounds: cytotoxicity and mRNA expression in LMH 3D spheroids

Previously, we showed that the chicken LMH cell line cultured as 3D spheroids may be a suitable animal free alternative to primary chicken embryonic hepatocytes (CEH) for avian in vitro chemical screening. In this study, cytotoxicity and mRNA expression were determined in LMH 3D spheroids following exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), five BPA replacement compounds (BPF, TGSH, DD-70, BPAF, BPSIP), and 17β estradiol (E2). Results were compared to an earlier study that evaluated the same endpoints for these chemicals in CEH. BPA and the replacement compounds had LC50 values ranging from 16.6 to 81.8 μM; DD-70 and BPAF were the most cytotoxic replacements (LC50 = 17.23 ± 4.51 and 16.6 ± 4.78 μM). TGSH and DD-70 modulated the greatest number of genes, although fewer than observed in CEH. Based on the expression of apovitellenin and vitellogenin, BPAF was the most estrogenic compound followed by BPF, BPSIP, and BPA. More estrogen-responsive genes were modulated in LMH spheroids compared to CEH. Concentration-dependent gene expression revealed that DD-70 and BPAF altered genes related to lipid and bile acid regulation. Overall, cytotoxicity and clustering of replacements based on gene expression profiles were similar between LMH spheroids and CEH. In addition to generating novel gene expression data for five BPA replacement compounds in an in vitro avian model, this research demonstrates that LMH spheroids may represent a useful animal free alternative for avian toxicity testing. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-18812-z.