Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) modify lung surfactant function and pro-inflammatory responses in human bronchial epithelial cells.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) modify lung surfactant function and pro-inflammatory responses in human bronchial epithelial cells. Toxicol In Vitro. 2019 Sep 16;:104656 Authors: Sørli JB, Låg M, Ekeren L, Perez-Gil J, Haug LS, Da Silva E, Matrod MN, Gützkow KB, Lindeman B Abstract The toxicity of some per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been studied thoroughly, showing that systemic PFASs targets the lungs. However, regulators lack data to assess the impact of other PFASs on the lungs and alternative methods to test substances for lung toxicity are needed. We combined two in vitro models to assess toxicity to the respiratory system; i) a lung surfactant (LS) function assay to assess the acute inhalation toxicity potential, and ii) a cell model with human bronchial epithelial cells to study pro-inflammatory potential and modulation of inflammatory responses. We tested salts of four PFASs: perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), PFOS, and PFOA as well as the fluorotelomer 8:2 FTOH. The results show that PFHxS, PFOA and PFOS can inhibit LS function. High PFOS concentrations induced a pro-inflammatory response, measured as increased IL-1α/β release. Moderate concentrations of PFOS suppressed release of the chemokines CXCL8 and CXCL10, whereas both PFOS and PFOA stimulated the release of the pro-inflammato...
Source: Toxicology in Vitro - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Toxicol In Vitro Source Type: research