Species- and Tissue-Specific Chronic Toxicity Values for Northern Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus) Exposed to PFHxA and a Binary Mixture of PFOS and PFHxA
By Nicole M Dennis, Farzana Hossain, Seenivasan Subbiah, Adcharee Karnjanapiboonwong, Michael L Dennis, Christopher McCarthy, W Andrew Jackson, Jordan P Crago, Christopher J Salice, and Todd A Anderson
Environ Toxicol Chem
November 30, 2021
DOI: 10.1002/etc.5238
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are globally distributed and present in nearly every environmental compartment. Characterizing the chronic toxicity of individual PFAS compounds and mixtures is necessary as many have been reported to cause adverse health effects. To derive toxicity reference values (TRVs) and conduct ecotoxicological risk assessments (ERAs) of PFAS-contaminated ecosystems for wildlife, species-specific PFAS chronic toxicity values (CTVs) are needed. The present study quantified PFAS residues from liver and eggs of birds chronically exposed to perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) or a mixture of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and PFHxA that produced a no-observable-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) and/or lowest-observable-adverse-effect-level (LOAEL). The CTVs presented here are lower than previously reported for birds and should be considered in future regulatory evaluations. From the estimated species- and tissue-specific PFAS CTVs we found that PFOS and PFHxS were more bioaccumulative than PFHxA in avian tissues, but PFHxA was more toxic to reproducing birds than either PFOS or a PFOS:PFHxS mixture. We further determined that avian toxicity was not necessarily additive with respect to PFAS mixtures, which could have implications for PFAS ERAs. The PFAS LOAEL CTVs can be used to predict reproductive and possible population-level adverse health effects in wild avian receptors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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