The effect of long term treatment of lowest effective dose of para-nonylphenol on viability, morphology and proliferation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Introduction: In this study, the effect of para-nonylphenol as an environmental pollutant on viability, morphology and proliferation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells was investigated. Methods: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of rat were treated with the 0.5, 1, 2.5, 3.5 and 5 μM of paranonylphenol for a period of 21 days, then the viability of the cells were estimated using trypan blue and MTT methods. After choosing the effective dose, the integration of the DNA was investigated using comet assay and agarose gel electrophoresis. Mechanisms of cell death were also investigated by TUNEL assay and presence of caspase activity. Results: The results showed that para-nonylphenol caused significant dose dependent reduction of viability and proliferation of the cells. Comet assay, agarose gel electrophoresis and TUNEL test showed that the DNA of the cells were damaged and broken after treatment with 0.5 and 2.5 μM of para-nonylphenol. In addition, activated caspase-3 was observed in the cytoplasm of treated cells. Conclusion: This study showed that a very low concentration of para-nonylphenol has drastic effects on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. This chemical is used in formulation of cosmetics and detergents and therfore may have detrimental effects on the viability and proliferation of stem cells.