Orally Administered 6:2 Chlorinated Polyfluorinated Ether Sulfonate (F-53B) Causes Thyroid Dysfunction in Rats
By So-Hye Hong, Seung Hee Lee, Jun-Young Yang, Jin Hee Lee, Ki Kyung Jung, Ji Hyun Seok, Sung-Hee Kim, Ki Taek Nam, Jayoung Jeong, Jong Kwon Lee, and Jae-Ho Oh
Toxics
August 18, 2020
DOI: 10.3390/toxics8030054
The compound 6:2 chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonate (F-53B), a replacement for perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) in the electroplating industry, has been widely detected in numerous environmental matrices, human sera, and organisms. Due to regulations that limit PFOS use, F-53B use is expected to increase. Therefore, in this study, we performed a subchronic oral toxicity study of F-53B in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. F-53B was administered orally once daily to male and female rats for 28 days at doses of 5, 20, and 100 mg/kg/day. There were no toxicologically significant changes in F-53B-treated rats, except in the thyroid gland. However, F-53B slightly reduced the serum concentrations of thyroid hormones, including triiodothyronine and thyroxine, compared with their concentrations in the vehicle group. F-53B also induced follicular hyperplasia and was associated with increased thyroid hormone biosynthesis-associated protein expression. These results demonstrate that F-53B is a strong regulator of thyroid hormones in SD rats as it disrupts thyroid function. Thus, caution should be exercised in the industrial application of F-53B as an alternative for PFOS.
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