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Development of adverse outcome pathways relevant to the ecological effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Citation:
Kittelson, A., J. Olker, J. Doering, C. Lalone, D. Villeneuve, AND G. Ankley. Development of adverse outcome pathways relevant to the ecological effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). SETAC North America Focused Topic, Durham, NC, August 12 - 15, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Some PFAS are widespread environmental contaminants that could produce adverse effects in fish and wildlife; however, there currently are not sufficient data to make definitive statements as to ecological risk. This poster describes approaches to develop adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) to support predictive approaches to assessing the potential hazards of PFAS to fish and wildlife.
Description:
The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework depicts causal linkages between biological responses across levels of organization, starting with a molecular initiating event, proceeding through intermediate key events, and culminating in apical effects on endpoints meaningful to risk assessment (i.e., survival, growth, reproduction). AOPs organize and synthesize complex biological knowledge and empirical support in a manner that facilitates prediction of chemical effects across different chemical structures, target species, and biological endpoints. AOP development can also highlight key data gaps. Accordingly, AOPs are a logical conceptual construct for helping assess the potential ecological effects of PFAS that have received little or no testing in non-mammalian taxa. This presentation outlines a strategic approach to the development of AOPs relevant for assessing ecological effects of PFAS. This approach uses a diversity of knowledge/data streams and tools, including (a) the ECOTOX Knowledgebase; (b) the AOP Wiki; (c) high-throughput in vitro assays; (d) conventional mammalian toxicological literature; (e) comparative protein sequence analyses using information from the NCBI and the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility tool; and (e) fundamental biological/physiological knowledge. Examples of AOPs relevant to the effects of PFAS on non-mammalian species are presented, including those capturing perturbation of processes associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal and thyroidal axes and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors.