NC SSAB - Maternal and neonatal effects of maternal oral exposure to perfluoro-2-methoxyacetic acid (PFMOAA) during pregnancy and early lactation in the Sprague-Dawley rat

This is a slide deck for an invited presentation to the North Carolina Secretaries' Science Advisory Board.  The NC SSAB is interested in the PFMOAA manuscript we published under this CSS RAP Product in January 2024 because PFMOAA is a high priority contaminant in the Cape Fear River region of eastern North Carolina.  The manuscript we published reports the only in vivo dose response data in a mammalian system for PFMOAA.  Importantly the manuscript reports the similarity in adverse effects between PFMOAA, PFOA, and GenX, albeit with lower potency for PFMOAA.   This presentation will review the published manuscript and answer associated questions for the NC SSAB.

Impact/Purpose

Perfluoromethoxyacetic acid (PFMOAA) was reported by EPA chemists Mark Strynar and James McCord to be the PFAS in the highest detected drinking water concentrations in the Cape Fear River region of NC.  Since then studies in China have reported high concentrations in seafood, drinking water, and breast milk.  As such, evaluation and risk assessment of PFMOAA is one of the highest priorities for NC DEQ and other health based agencies.  However, there is currently only a single mammalian toxicity study published in the literature and no developmental toxicity data.  Here, we exposed pregnant rats during pregnancy and early lactation, similar to our prior PFAS developmental toxicity studies, and report numerous dose responsive adverse effects in maternal animals and pups at all doses tested (10-450 mg/kg/d). PFMOAA is a very short chain PFAS with a very low molecular weight.  It is generally thought that the smaller PFAS are less toxic that the “long chain” PFAS; however here we observed essentially identical results to those we reported for PFOA and the potency for PFMOAA was about 2-4-fold weaker than PFOA for most endpoints but PFMOAA was more potent that PFOA for effects on liver weight.  These data indicate the need to evaluate risk to human health from documented exposures via drinking water and other matrices.  

Citation

Conley, J. NC SSAB - Maternal and neonatal effects of maternal oral exposure to perfluoro-2-methoxyacetic acid (PFMOAA) during pregnancy and early lactation in the Sprague-Dawley rat. North Carolina Secretaries' Science Advisory Board, Raleigh, NC, August 07, 2024.