Xeno-estrogenic activity of real-life mixtures of perfluoroalkylated substances in human placenta homogenates

• Published in: Reproductive Toxicology
• Main Authors: Wielsøe, Maria, Molina Molina, José Manuel, Rodríguez Carrillo, Andrea, Mustieles Miralles, Vicente, Olea Serrano, Nicolás, Fernández Cabrera, Mariana Fátima
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: Endocrine disruptors; Fluorocarbon; Xeno-estrogenic activity; Chemicals mixtures; Pregnancy outcome; HBM4EU; Arctic; Rodriguez; Human health
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10481/84470; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reprotox.2023.108444

The authors thank the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme HBM4EU under Grant Agreement No. 733032 for its financial support, as well as the Biomedical Research Networking Center-CIBER de Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP) , and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (FIS-PI16/01820) . We thank pre-vious and current colleagues at Centre for Arctic Health and Molecular Epidemiology, Aarhus University for their valuable scientist support. The authors also thank the Spanish Ministry of Education for the pre-doctoral fellowship (FPU) granted to A. Rodriguez-Carrillo (FPU 16/03011) . Humans are simultaneously exposed to complex chemical mixtures, and its combined effect can affect human health. As part of the HBM4EU project, the actual mixture of perfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) in 25 human placenta samples was extracted by chromatographic methods and assessed for xeno-estrogenic activity using two in-vitro bioassays: the estrogen receptor transactivity and the E-Screen assay. Most of the PFAS extracts displayed xeno-estrogenic activity, in one or both assays. The xeno-estrogenic activities in the two bioassays were not correlated, but both assays showed an overall negative correlation with placenta concentrations of single PFAS. Xeno-estrogenic activities were significantly related to maternal characteristics; being higher in young, smokers and primiparous women, but not with fetal growth (birth weight, birth length, head circumference, gestational age, placenta weight). The presented extraction method can be used to study the combined effect of real-life mixtures of PFAS in relation to health outcomes in large-scale human biomonitoring studies. European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme HBM4EU 733032 Biomedical Research Networking Center-CIBER de Epidemiologia y Salud Pblica (CIBERESP) Instituto de Salud Carlos III Spanish Government FIS-PI16/01820 Spanish Government FPU 16/03011