LAUSR

Abstract Biphenol A (BPA) and its analogues bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF) are well-known toxicants present in various parts of the environment. These compounds are of highly harmful influence on the living organisms, including plant, bacteria and fungi. The aim of this work was to verify whether bisphenols are able or not to penetrate into membranes, which are the first barriers in the way of all xenobiotics to the cell interior. The experiments were done on the lipid monolayers imitating plant, fungi and bacteria membranes. During the studies the incorporation of bisphenols into the model systems were investigated as well as their influence on the condensation, morphology and interactions between the lipids at the interface were analysed. Based on the collected results the affinity of particular bisphenols towards the studied membranes were compared. Moreover, the role of membrane composition in the effect of bisphenols was verified. It was found that bisphenols are able to incorporate into the studied lipid systems. These molecules cause the decrease of the condensation and rigidity of the monolayers and make the interactions between the film-forming molecules less favorable. These effects are the strongest for BPA molecules, while the weakest for BPS. Moreover, plant and fungi membranes were found to be more strongly penetrated and affected by bisphenols than bacteria model systems. It was proposed that the foregoing differences are determined by the system composition and that the sterol molecules could be responsible for the selectivity of bisphenol molecules.