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Nicolás Olea,¹ Rosa Pulgar,² Pilar Pérez,¹ Fátima Olea-Serrano,³ Ana Rivas,³ Arantzazu Novillo-Fertrell,³ Vicente Pedraza,¹ Ana M. Soto,⁴ and Carlos Sonnenschein⁴

¹Laboratory of Medical Investigation, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, ²Department of Medical Odontology, School of Dentistry, and ³Department of Nutrition, School of Pharmacy, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain; ⁴Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Tufts University, School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111 USA

Abstract
We tested some resin-based composites used in dentistry for their estrogenic activity. A sealant based on bisphenol-A diglycidylether methacrylate (bis-GMA) increased cell yields, progesterone receptor expression, and pS2 secretion in human estrogen-target, serum-sensitive MCF7 breast cancer cells. Estrogenicity was due to bisphenol-A and bisphenol-A dimethacrylate, monomers found in the base paste of the dental sealant and identified by mass spectrometry. Samples of saliva from 18 subjects treated with 50 mg of a bis-GMA-based sealant applied on their molars were collected 1 hr before and after treatment. Bisphenol-A (range 90-931 g) was identified only in saliva collected during a 1-hr period after treatment. The use of bis-GMA-based resins in dentistry, and particularly the use of sealants in children, appears to contribute to human exposure to xenoestrogens. Key words: bisphenol-A, composite resins and sealants, E-screen bioassay, restorative dentistry, xenoestrogens. Environ Health Perspect 104:298-305 (1996)

Address correspondence to N. Olea. Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.

This work was reported in part at the SETAC-Europe meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark, 25-28 June 1995. We thank Karen Shashok for improving the English of the manuscript. This work was supported by grant 94/1551 from the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) , the Spanish Ministry of Health and the Consejería de Salud, Junta de Andalucía (to N.O.) , National Institutes of Health grant CA13410 (to C.S.) , CA 55574, and NSF-DCB-9105594 (to A.M.S.) .

Received 9 August 1995 ; accepted 21 November 1995.