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

Kaitlin R Taibl; Susan Schantz; Max T Aung; Amy Padula; Sarah Geiger; Sabrina Smith; June-Soo Park; Ginger L Milne; Joshua F Robinson; Tracey J Woodruff; Rachel Morello-Frosch; Stephanie M Eick

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2022.107541

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

Environ Int. 2022 Nov:169:107541. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107541. Epub 2022 Sep 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
² Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL USA; Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
³ Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵ Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL USA; Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
⁶ Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁷ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁸ Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁹ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: stephanie.marie.eick@emory.edu.

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-F_2α, prostaglandin-F_2α, 2,3-dinor-8-iso-PGF_2α, and 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-8-iso-PGF_2α 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-F_2α (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.

Keywords: Maternal and child health; Mixtures; Oxidative stress; PFAS.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Alkanesulfonic Acids* / toxicity
Animals
Bayes Theorem
Biomarkers
Dimaprit / analogs & derivatives
Environmental Pollutants* / adverse effects
Female
Fluorocarbons* / toxicity
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Oxidative Stress
Pregnancy
Premature Birth* / chemically induced
Prospective Studies
Reactive Oxygen Species

Substances

Alkanesulfonic Acids
Biomarkers
Environmental Pollutants
Fluorocarbons
Reactive Oxygen Species
S-(2-(N,N-diisopropylamino)ethyl)isothiourea
perfluorooctane sulfonic acid
Dimaprit

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding