Associations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their mixture with oxidative stress biomarkers during pregnancy

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Kaitlin R Taibl, Emory University; Susan Schantz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Max Aung, University of Southern California; Amy Padula, University of California San Francisco; Sarah Geiger, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Sabrina Smith, University of California, San Francisco; June-Soo Park, University of California San Francisco; Ginger L Milne, Vanderbilt University; Joshua F Robinson, University of California San Francisco; Tracey J Woodruff, University of California San Francisco; Rachel Morello-Frosch, University of California San Francisco; Stephanie Eick, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-11-01
• Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107541
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
• Volume: 169
• Start Page: 107541
• End Page: 107541
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by grants RD83543301 AND RD83543401 from the United States Environmental Protection Agency Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center, P30 ES019776, P30 ES030284, P01 ES022841 P01 ES022848 and R01ES02705 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and UG3OD023272, UH3OD023272, and 5U2COD023375-05 from the National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.
• Keywords: Mixtures; F-2-ISOPROSTANE; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; PERFLUOROALKYL; Environmental Sciences; EXPOSURE; Science & Technology; INFLAMMATION; PFAS; CHEMICALS; Maternal and child health; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; PERFLUOROOCTANE SULFONATE; PERFLUORINATED COMPOUNDS; WOMEN; PFOS; HEALTH; Oxidative stress

Abstract

Background: Oxidative stress from excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a hypothesized contributor to preterm birth. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure is reported to generate ROS in laboratory settings, and is linked to adverse birth outcomes globally. However, to our knowledge, the relationship between PFAS and oxidative stress has not been examined in the context of human pregnancy. Objective: To investigate the associations between prenatal PFAS exposure and oxidative stress biomarkers among pregnant people. Methods: Our analytic sample included 428 participants enrolled in the Illinois Kids Development Study and Chemicals In Our Bodies prospective birth cohorts between 2014 and 2019. Twelve PFAS were measured in second trimester serum. We focused on seven PFAS that were detected in >65 % of participants. Urinary levels of 8-isoprostane-prostaglandin-F2α, prostaglandin-F2α, 2,3-dinor-8-iso-PGF2α, and 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-8-iso-PGF2α were measured in the second and third trimesters as biomarkers of oxidative stress. We fit linear mixed-effects models to estimate individual associations between PFAS and oxidative stress biomarkers. We used quantile g-computation and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to assess associations between the PFAS mixture and averaged oxidative stress biomarkers. Results: Linear mixed-effects models showed that an interquartile range increase in perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) was associated with an increase in 8-isoprostane-prostaglandin-F2α (β = 0.10, 95 % confidence interval = 0, 0.20). In both quantile g-computation and BKMR, and across all oxidative stress biomarkers, PFOS contributed the most to the overall mixture effect. The six remaining PFAS were not significantly associated with changes in oxidative stress biomarkers. Conclusions: Our study is the first to investigate the relationship between PFAS exposure and biomarkers of oxidative stress during human pregnancy. We found that PFOS was associated with elevated levels of oxidative stress, which is consistent with prior work in animal models and cell lines. Future research is needed to understand how prenatal PFAS exposure and maternal oxidative stress may affect fetal development.