Characterization of the metabolic changes in chicken liver due to exposure of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) during the embryo development

Abstract: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are anthropogenic compounds that have been classed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and are found in both commercial and industrial products. PFASs have been detected in different environmental matrices and have been found to bioaccumulate in all trophic levels. The adverse effects that are associated with PFAS exposure include reduced body weight, increased liver weight, hepatocellular hypertrophy, a decrease in serum cholesterol and triglycerides. This project aims to characterize the metabolic changes in lipid metabolism in the liver after exposure to one of the well-studied PFASs, the perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), during the embryo development using the domestic chicken as a model organism. The characterization of the metabolic changes was done by conducting both quantitative lipidomic analysis and semi-quantitative global profiling on extracted lipids from liver homogenates from a former related project looking at fatty acid profiles. The extracted lipids were analyzed using UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS. In the quantitative analysis, the PFOS-treated groups (0.1 ug/g and 1.0 ug/g)exhibited higher lipid concentrations when compared with the solvent control group (5% DMSO) and the untreated group leading to the conclusion that PFOS exposure disrupts the lipid metabolism. When comparing the lipid concentrations between the two PFOS-treated groups (0.1 ug/g and 1.0 ug/g), the majority of the lipids exhibited higher lipid concentrations in the 1.0 ug/g PFOS-treated groups leading to the conclusion that the effect PFOS has on the lipid metabolism is dose dependent. In the global profiling analysis, 63 lipids showed significant differences when comparing the solvent control group with samples either treated with 0.1 ug/g PFOS or 1.0 ug/g PFOS.