Determination of Perfluorooctanesulfonate and Perfluorooctanoic Acid in Maternal and Cord Blood Samples

Abstract

SAB2-O-06 Introduction: Perfluoro-octanesulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) are raw materials or used as manufacturing aids for some perfluorinated chemicals and can be released of those by biotic and/or metabolic decomposition. Because of their ubiquitous occurrence, persistence, and bioaccumulative properties, they can be found in plasma and serum samples of the general population all over the world. In animal studies, PFOS and PFOA provoked various types of cancer and showed developmental toxic potential besides other adverse health effects. On the basis of the comparison of plasma sample pairs from mothers and their infants’ cord blood, we wanted to show if neonates are exposed to PFOS and PFOA in earliest state of development. Methods: We determined PFOS and PFOA in 11 plasma samples of mothers and in 11 plasma samples from the cord blood of their infants. An analytical method based on serum protein precipitation followed by HPLC with MS/MS-detection was used. As internal standards, we used isotopically labelled 1,2,3,4-,13C-PFOS and 1,2-13C-PFOA. Results: We found PFOS and PFOA in every plasma sample analyzed. In maternal plasma samples PFOS concentrations were consistently higher compared with those of the related cord plasma samples (median, 12.7 μg/L vs. 7.2 μg/L). In the case of PFOA, we observed only minor differences between PFOA concentrations within the analyzed sample pairs (median, 2.4 μg/L vs. 3.1 μg/L for maternal and cord plasma samples, respectively). Discussion and Conclusions: For both substances, a crossing of the placental barrier could be shown. For PFOS, we observed a decrease from maternal to cord plasma concentrations by a factor of 0.41 to 0.80. However, PFOA obviously crosses the placental barrier unhindered. These findings show that neonates are exposed to PFOS and PFOA via their mothers’ blood. Given the current situation that only little is known about the consequences of PFOS and PFOA exposure in the early state of development of humans and the fact that in animal studies both substances showed developmental toxic effects future research regarding human health effects is indispensable.