Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 8;3(3):308-316.
doi: 10.1016/j.eehl.2024.04.007. eCollection 2024 Sep.

Early-life exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: Analysis of levels, health risk and binding abilities to transport proteins

Yaqi Xu  1   2 , Xinyao Sui  1 , Jinhong Li  2 , Liyi Zhang  2 , Pengpeng Wang  2 , Yang Liu  2 , Huijing Shi  1   2 , Yunhui Zhang  1   2
Affiliations

Early-life exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: Analysis of levels, health risk and binding abilities to transport proteins

Yaqi Xu et al. Eco Environ Health. .

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can pass through the placenta and adversely affect fetal development. However, there is a lack of comparison of legacy and emerging PFAS levels among different biosamples in pregnant women and their offspring. This study, based on the Shanghai Maternal-Child Pairs Cohort, analyzed the concentrations of 16 PFAS in the maternal serum, cord serum, and breast milk samples from 1,076 mother-child pairs. The placental and breastfeeding transfer efficiencies of PFAS were determined in maternal-cord and maternal-milk pairs, respectively. The binding affinities of PFAS to five transporters were simulated using molecular docking. The results suggested that PFAS were frequently detected in different biosamples. The median concentration of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was the highest at 8.85 ng/mL, followed by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) at 7.13 ng/mL and 6:2 chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonate at 5.59 ng/mL in maternal serum. The median concentrations of PFOA were highest in cord serum (4.23 ng/mL) and breast milk (1.08 ng/mL). PFAS demonstrated higher placental than breastfeeding transfer efficiencies. The transfer efficiencies and the binding affinities of most PFAS to proteins exhibited alkyl chain length-dependent patterns. Furthermore, we comprehensively assessed the estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of PFAS in breastfeeding infants of different age groups and used the hazard quotient (HQ) to characterize the potential health risk. EDIs decreased with infant age, and PFOS had higher HQs than PFOA. These findings highlight the significance of considering PFAS exposure, transfer mechanism, and health risks resulting from breast milk intake in early life.

Keywords: Binding affinity; Breast milk; Emerging PFAS; Health risk; Placental transfer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Box plots of concentrations of PFAS with >50% detection in maternal serum across trimesters (T1-T3), cord serum, or breast milk (ng/mL). The lower and upper edges of the box represent the first and third quartiles, respectively, while the line inside the box denotes the median level. The whiskers mark the 5th and 95th percentiles.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distributions of (a) C:T3 and (b) M:T3. The lower and upper edges of the box represent the first and third quartiles, respectively, while the line inside denotes the median level. The whiskers mark the 10th and 90th percentiles. The C:T3 represents the efficiency of placenta transfer and the M:T3 represents the efficiency of breastfeeding transfer.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The two-dimensional docking conformation of PFUnA in the substrate binding pocket of (a) HSA, (b) L-FABP, (c) MRP2, (d) OAT4, and (e) P-gp model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Hammel E., Webster T.F., Gurney R., Heiger-Bernays W. Implications of PFAS definitions using fluorinated pharmaceuticals. iScience. 2022;25 doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104020. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Domingo J.L. Health risks of dietary exposure to perfluorinated compounds. Environ. Int. 2012;40:187–195. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2011.08.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ritscher A., Wang Z., Scheringer M., Boucher J.M., Ahrens L., Berger U., et al. Zürich statement on future actions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) Environ. Health Perspect. 2018;126 doi: 10.1289/EHP4158. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sajid M., Ilyas M. PTFE-coated non-stick cookware and toxicity concerns: a perspective. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 2017;24:23436–23440. doi: 10.1007/s11356-017-0095-y. - DOI - PubMed
    1. He Y., Lv D., Li C., Liu X., Liu W., Han W. Human exposure to F-53B in China and the evaluation of its potential toxicity: an overview. Environ. Int. 2022;161 doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107108. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources