Exposure of Caco-2 cells to PFOS and PFOA

Abstract: The toxicity of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was measured. When Caco-2 cells from human adenocarcinoma are cultivated on a filter a monolayer is formed with properties similar to human duodenum epithelium. The Caco-2 cells grown on filter were exposed to the environmental contaminants PFOS and PFOA. The effects on the Caco-2 epithelium were examined by four different methods: trans-epithelial resistance (TEER), leakage of the intracellular protein lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), 14C-mannitol passage through the epithelium and protein content of the epithelium. TEER and C-mannitol passage show the Caco-2 cellmonolayer integrity, LDH leakage gives information of cytotoxicity and protein content of the epithelium shows cell adhension to the filter. In the first study TEER decreased at the highest concentrations of PFOS and PFOA (1Mm). The 14C-mannitol passage increased at the highest PFOS concentration. No cytotoxicity was shown and protein-loss was not observed. The second study with PFOS doses of 0, 1, 10, 100 and 500µM and 1 and 10mM showed that the effect of PFOS on TEER was dose-dependent. The 14C-mannitol passage was very high at the highest PFOS-concentration (10mM) and a dose-response was indicated. No cytotoxicity was demonstrated and protein-quantity was not affected. In the third study it was demonstrated that the toxicity of PFOS did not depend on the different concentrations of the oil-emulsion used to dissolve PFOS and PFOA.