Cited by 86Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances researchEnvironmental Toxicology and EcotoxicologyToxic Organic Pollutants Impact

Bioconcentration and Tissue Distribution of Shorter and Longer Chain Perfluoroalkyl Acids (PFAAs) in Zebrafish (Danio rerio): Effects of Perfluorinated Carbon Chain Length and Zebrafish Protein Content

Wen, Wu, Xia, Xinghui, Zhou, Dong, Wang, Haotian, Zhai, Yawei, Lin, Hui, Chen, Jian, Hu, Diexuan·2019·Environmental Pollution

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are a class of emerging pollutants. However, the bioconcentration and tissue distribution of shorter chain PFAAs in aquatic animals are not well understood. Here, we investigated the effects of perfluorinated carbon chain length of PFAAs and protein content of tissues on the bioconcentration and tissue distribution of both shorter chain PFAAs (linear C-F = 3-6) and longer chain PFAAs (linear C-F = 7-11) in zebrafish. The results showed that the uptake rate constants (k u) and the bioconcentration factors (BCF ss) of the shorter chain PFAAs (0.042-32 L·kg ww-1·d-1 and 0.12-24 L·kg ww-1, respectively) in tissues were significantly lower than those of the longer chain PFAAs (2.8-1.4 × 10 3 L·kg ww-1·d-1 and 9.7-1.9 × 10 4 L·kg ww-1, respectively). Moreover, the concentrations of both longer and shorter chain PFAAs were lowest in the muscle where the protein content was lowest, and they were highest in blood and liver where the protein content was highest among tissues except brain. The protein content of the brain was higher than that of the liver but the concentrations of PFAAs in the brain were significantly lower than those in the liver because of the blood-brain barrier. In addition, the ovary/blood and brain/blood ratios of concentrations for the shorter chain PFAAs were lower than those for the longer chain PFAAs. Generally, both log k u and log BCF ss showed a significantly positive correlation with either perfluorinated carbon number of PFAAs or protein content of tissues (P < 0.05). Further nonlinear surface fitting revealed that the effect of perfluorinated carbon number was more significant than protein content on the PFAA bioconcentration in zebrafish tissues. These results suggest that there are differences in the bioconcentration and tissue distribution between longer and shorter chain PFAAs and the shorter chain PFAAs seem to be safe compared with the longer chain PFAAs.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.003

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  • In zebrafish, brain:serum ratios for a subset of structurally diverse PFAA congeners markedly differed, with the proportion of PFAS in brain increasing as perfluoroalkyl chain length increased.

    “This possibility is supported in a study by Wen et al. (2019) that found that in zebrafish (Danio rerio), brain:serum ratios for a subset of structurally diverse PFAA congeners markedly differed, with the proportion of PFAS in brain increasing as the perfluoroalkyl chain length increased.”

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Authors
Wen, W., Xia, X., Zhou, D., Wang, H., Zhai, Y., Lin, H., Chen, J., & Hu, D.
Affiliations
Beijing Normal University (CN)
Corresponding author
Xia, Xinghui
Venue
Environmental Pollution
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-06
Volume
249
Pages
277-285
ISSN
0269-7491 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2921336268
Cited by
86
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4
FWCI
4.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Environmental Pollution (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0605001)
  • the National Natural Science Foundation for Innovative Research Group (51721093)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (91547207)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
Keywords
perfluoroalkyl acids, bioconcentration, tissue distribution, zebrafish, uptake rate constant, bioconcentration factor, tissue protein content, blood-brain barrier, liver, brain, ovary, emerging contaminants, aquatic toxicity
MeSH terms
Animals, Carbon, Female, Fluorocarbons, Tissue Distribution, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Zebrafish, Zebrafish Proteins

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