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Sublethal Toxicity of 17 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances with Diverse Structures to Ceriodaphnia dubia, Hyalella azteca, and Chironomus dilutus
Citation:
Kadlec, S., W. Backe, R. Erickson, J. Hockett, S. Howe, I. Mundy, E. Piasecki, H. Sluka, L. Votava, AND D. Mount. Sublethal Toxicity of 17 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances with Diverse Structures to Ceriodaphnia dubia, Hyalella azteca, and Chironomus dilutus. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, 43(2):359-373, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5784
Impact/Purpose:
This manuscript summarizes our findings of sublethal toxicity of several classes of per- or poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) to three freshwater invertebrate species, both in terms of individual chemical potency and as interactive toxicity of mixtures. These represent meaningful progress toward understanding how PFAS toxicity varies across chemical structures and species, inferring hypothetical groupings of PFASs with common mechanisms of toxicity, and prioritizing compounds/species for further work involving body burden and mixture toxicity. Our intended audience is ecotoxicologists and risk assessors from government, industry, and academia, in a peer-reviewed journal. This work is taking place under the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources National Program. Specifically, it is occurring under SSWR 3.3.2.
Description:
Seven-day sublethal toxicity tests were performed with the freshwater invertebrates Ceriodaphnia dubia, Hyalella azteca, and Chironomus dilutus to determine the effects of per- or polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) of varying chain length within four classes: perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs), perfluoroalkane sulfonamides, and fluorotelomer sulfonic acids. In general, toxicity increased with increasing chain length, but the slopes of these relationships varied markedly by species and chemical class. The toxicity of individual PFCAs was similar among species. The toxicity of PFSAs was similar to PFCAs for C. dubia and H. azteca, whereas PFSAs were much more toxic to C. dilutus, with median effect concentrations (EC50s) as low as 0.022 mg perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)/L and 0.012 mg perfluorononane sulfonate (PFNS)/L. Despite the high sensitivity to PFOS and PFNS, C. dilutus was not very sensitive to structurally similar fluorotelomer sulfonates (6:2 and 8:2). Perfluoroalkane sulfonamides were the most toxic class tested among all species (e.g., EC50s of 0.011 and 0.017 mg perfluorooctane sulfonamide/L for C. dilutus and H. azteca, respectively). The differences in toxicity among species and chemical classes suggest that mechanisms of PFAS toxicity may differ as a function of both.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Sublethal Toxicity of 17 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances with Diverse Structures to Ceriodaphnia dubia, Hyalella azteca, and Chironomus dilutus
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37933805/