The stage-specific toxicity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a diverse class of industrial chemicals that have been used for decades in industrial and commercial applications. Due to their widespread usages, persistence in the environment, and bioaccumulation in animals and humans, great public health concerns have been raised on adverse health risks of PFAS. In this study, ten PFAS were selected according to their occurrence in different water bodies. The wild-type worms were exposed to individual PFAS at 0, 0.1, 1,10, 100, and 200 mu M, and the toxic effects of PFAS on growth, development, fecundity, and behavior at different life stages were investigated using a high-throughput screening (HTS) platform. Our results showed that perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), 1H,1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetic acid (NEtFOSAA), perfluorobutanesulfonic (PFBS), and per-fluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) exhibited significant inhibitive effects on the growth in the L4 larva and later stages of worms with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 200 mu mol/L. PFOS and PFBS significantly decreased the brood size of worms across all tested concentrations (p < 0.05), and the most potent PFAS is PFOS with BMC of 0.02013 mu M (BMCL, 1.6e-06 mu M). During adulthood, all PFAS induced a significant reduction in motility (p < 0.01), while only PFOS can significantly induce behavior alteration at the early larvae stage. Furthermore, the adverse effects occurred in larval stages were found to be the most susceptible to the PFAS exposure. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential adverse effects associated with PFAS exposure and show the importance of considering developmental stages in toxicity assessments.

Automated summary

This study investigates the toxic effects of different PFAS on worms at different life stages. Four PFAS (PFOS, NEtFOSAA, PFBS, and PFHxS) were found to significantly inhibit worm growth and reproduction at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 200 mu mol/L. PFOS and PFBS also decreased the brood size of worms, and all PFAS reduced the motility of adulthood worms.