Occurrence of bisphenols A and S in paired human skin and adipose tissue in neonatal males

Human exposure to bisphenols (BPs) is often assessed through biomonitoring of urinary concentrations of these chemicals. Nevertheless, a few earlier studies have reported elevated concentrations of BPs in solid tissue matrices in adults. Little is known about the occurrence of BPs in adipose or skin of neonates. In this study, we measured BPA, BPS, BPF and chlorinated BPA in 25 paired skin and adipose samples collected from healthy newborn males (< 28 days of age) from the United States. BPA and BPS were widely detected, with respective geometric mean concentrations of 22.4 (range: 8.65–220) and 0.55 (range: 0.24–2.27) ng/g in skin, and 38.6 (range: 13.7–283) and 1.01 (range: 0.40–6.51) ng/g in adipose. BPA and BPS concentrations were significantly correlated in adipose (Spearman r = 0.581, p = 0.002) and skin (Spearman r = 0.401, p = 0.0470). Further, the BPA and BPS concentrations in adipose were significantly higher than those in paired skin (BPA: p = 0.0038, BPS: p = 0.0074), which suggests accumulation of these chemicals in lipid-rich tissues. Our findings highlight neonatal exposure to notable levels of BPs and suggest that skin might be a depot for systemic rather than simply transcutaneous BP exposure.