Comparisons of tissue distributions and health risks of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in two fish species with different trophic levels from Lake Chaohu, China

Jing-Yi Wu; Wen-Xiu Liu; Wei He; Fu-Liu Xu

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109666

Comparisons of tissue distributions and health risks of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in two fish species with different trophic levels from Lake Chaohu, China

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2019 Dec 15:185:109666. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109666. Epub 2019 Sep 19.

Authors

Jing-Yi Wu¹, Wen-Xiu Liu², Wei He³, Fu-Liu Xu⁴

Affiliations

¹ MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
² MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China; Center for Enviornmental Health Risk Assessment and Research, Chinese Research Academy of Environment Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
³ MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China; MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation and Environmental Evolution, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China.
⁴ MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. Electronic address: xufl@urban.pku.edu.cn.

PMID: 31542645
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109666

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are a type of persistent organic pollutants that are widely distributed in multiple environmental media and organisms and have a teratogenic effect on and toxicity to animals and humans. The residual levels of seventeen PFAAs in the tissues of two regular consumption fish species, Culter erythropterus and Aristichthys nobilis in Lake Chaohu were measured by a high-performance liquid chromatograph - mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS). The distributions of PFAAs and the effect of the lipid contents were analyzed, and the health risks of typical PFAAs were evaluated. The results showed that perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) was the predominant contaminant (80.50 ± 58.31 ng/g and 19.17 ± 12.57 ng/g wet weight, ww), followed by perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) (55.02 ± 34.82 and 14.79 ± 6.24 ng/g, ww) in both fish. The level of total PFAAs was the highest in the liver tissues of Culter erythropterus (359.87 ng/g, ww) and the lowest in the kidney tissues in A. nobilis (10.06 ng/g, ww). Due to the higher trophic level of C. erythropteru, the total PFAA concentrations were significantly higher in all tissues than those in A. nobilis. Liver muscle ratio of C. erythropteru was the highest, indicating the most accumulation in the liver. The concentrations of PFAAs in fish tissues were influenced by the lipid content, resulting in a difference between the lipid-normalized concentrations and the wet weight concentrations of the PFAAs. The non-carcinogenic risks of PFOS were higher than those of PFOA through the ingestion of C. erythropterus and A. nobilis. Both the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of C. erythropterus were greater than those of A. nobilis, and fish tissue intake could cause an increasing of risks up to 60%, indicating that long-term and large amount ingestion of carnivorous fish and related tissues with higher trophic level, such as C. erythropterus should be avoided.

Keywords: Fish tissues; Health risk; Lake Chaohu; Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs); Residues; Trophic level.

MeSH terms

Alkanesulfonic Acids / pharmacokinetics
Alkanesulfonic Acids / toxicity*
Animals
Caproates / pharmacokinetics
Caproates / toxicity*
China
Cyprinidae / metabolism*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Fluorocarbons / pharmacokinetics
Fluorocarbons / toxicity*
Food Chain
Humans
Kidney / drug effects
Kidney / metabolism
Lakes / chemistry*
Liver / drug effects
Liver / metabolism
Seafood / analysis
Species Specificity
Tissue Distribution
Water Pollutants, Chemical / pharmacokinetics
Water Pollutants, Chemical / toxicity*

Substances

Alkanesulfonic Acids
Caproates
Fluorocarbons
Water Pollutants, Chemical
perfluorooctane sulfonic acid
perfluorohexanoic acid