Meeting Abstract
Bisphenyl A (BPA) is a xeno-estrogen that mimics the effects of estrogen and is commonly used in human industrial and consumer products such as plastics, cleaning, health and beauty products, and pharmaceuticals. Due to its common use ecological exposure is nearly unavoidable. In prior research in our lab, micromolar concentration exposure of planaria (G.tigrina) to BPA causes a myriad of deleterious effects including dramatic behavioral changes, delayed reactions to stimuli, and severely affected ability to regenerate. This research is focused on quantifying the concentration of BPA absorbed and retained by planaria after a set time of exposure in media. We have used HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) with fluorescence detection to quantify the amount of BPA present in control solutions. We have attempted to extract BPA from planarian tissue using a 50:50 mixture of a chloroform:methanol solution. However, we have identified other biological macromolecules that co-elute with BPA. We therefore have developed separation techniques to further separate these co-eluting species. We found that amino acids such as tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine co-elute with BPA and also absorb and emit at the same wavelengths as BPA. These amino acids, which are three of the monomeric units used in abundance in protein, may be interfering with the BPA signal. I plan to further experiment with different techniques, such as solid phase extraction columns and removal of the planarian mucous coat post-BPA exposure, in order to develop an amino acid / BPA separation protocol.
