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BDE-47 and 6-OH-BDE-47 modulate calcium homeostasis in primary fetal human neural progenitor cells via ryanodine receptor-independent mechanisms

  • Molecular Toxicology
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Abstract

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are bioaccumulating flame retardants found in rising concentrations in human tissue. Epidemiological and animal studies have raised concern for their potential to induce developmental neurotoxicity (DNT). Considering the essential role of calcium homeostasis in neurodevelopment, PBDE-induced disturbance of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) may underlie PBDE-induced DNT. To test this hypothesis, we investigated acute effects of BDE-47 and 6-OH-BDE-47 on [Ca2+]i in human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) and unraveled involved signaling pathways. Short-time differentiated hNPCs were exposed to BDE-47, 6-OH-BDE-47, and multiple inhibitors/stimulators of presumably involved signaling pathways to determine possible effects on [Ca2+]i by single-cell microscopy with the fluorescent dye Fura-2. Initial characterization of calcium signaling pathways confirmed the early developmental stage of hNPCs. In these cells, BDE-47 (2 μM) and 6-OH-BDE-47 (0.2 μM) induce [Ca2+]i transients. This increase in [Ca2+]i is due to extracellular Ca2+ influx and intracellular release of Ca2+, mainly from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). While extracellular Ca2+ seems to enter the cytoplasm upon 6-OH-BDE-47 by interfering with the cell membrane and independent of Ca2+ ion channels, ER-derived Ca2+ is released following activation of protein lipase C and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor, but independently of ryanodine receptors. These findings illustrate that immature developing hNPCs respond to low concentrations of 6-OH-BDE-47 by an increase in [Ca2+]i and provide new mechanistic explanations for such BDE-induced calcium disruption. Thus, these data support the possibility of a critical window of PBDE exposure, i.e., early human brain development, which has to be acknowledged in risk assessment.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the expert technical help of Ulrike Huebenthal and thank Marta Barenys for critical reading of the manuscript. Parts of this project were funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), by the German Research Foundation (DFG GRK1427), by the Research Commission of the Department of Medicine, Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University. The authors declare no actual or potential competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Auf’m Hennekamp 50, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany

    Kathrin Gassmann, Timm Schreiber, Susanne Giersiefer, Janette Schuwald, Michaela Moors, Klaus Unfried & Ellen Fritsche

  2. Neurotoxicology Research Group, Toxicology Division, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Milou M. L. Dingemans & Remco H. S. Westerink

  3. Institute of Neurobiology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Universitaetsstrasse 1, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany

    Guido Krause, Claudia Roderigo & Christine R. Rose

  4. Department of Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Åke Bergman

  5. Heinrich-Heine-University, Universitaetsstrasse 1, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany

    Ellen Fritsche

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  1. Kathrin Gassmann
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  2. Timm Schreiber
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  3. Milou M. L. Dingemans
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  5. Claudia Roderigo
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  13. Ellen Fritsche
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Correspondence to Ellen Fritsche.

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Kathrin Gassmann, Timm Schreiber, and Milou M. L. Dingemans have contributed equally to this work.

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Gassmann, K., Schreiber, T., Dingemans, M.M.L. et al. BDE-47 and 6-OH-BDE-47 modulate calcium homeostasis in primary fetal human neural progenitor cells via ryanodine receptor-independent mechanisms. Arch Toxicol 88, 1537–1548 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-014-1217-7

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