Term of Award

Spring 2023

Degree Name

Master of Science, Applied Physical Science

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Committee Chair

Dr. Worlanyo Eric Gato

Committee Member 1

Dr. Ji Wu

Committee Member 2

Dr. Amanda White

Abstract

Perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) is a short-chain PFAS that is considered to be a less toxic replacement for the rather more toxic long-chain perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). Its numerous industrial applications and widespread presence in the environment have raised environmental and health concerns because of growing evidence associating adverse health effects and certain liver diseases to PFBS exposure. The study goal was to investigate whether dietary ingestion of PFBS would induce liver injuries, damage, inflammations, and oxidative stress. To achieve these goals, Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned into three PFBS dietary treatment groups (0, 50, and 100 PPM) for 11 weeks. After this period, the animals were sacrificed, and the serum and liver samples were evaluated for various clinical markers. There was a statistically significant increase (P < 0.05) in liver and body weights in the low-dose group relative to the control group. The Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in the PFBS-treated group relative to the control group. The study also revealed that serum ALT levels increased in a dose-dependent manner. Transcriptomic analysis showed 1,127 and 902 genes were differentially expressed in the low-dose and high-dose groups, respectively. Gene ontology analysis of differentially expressed genes showed that transmembrane transport and oxidation-reduction processes were the most significantly up-regulated biological processes when the control group was compared with the low-dose and high-dose groups, respectively. qRT-PCR results revealed that some pro-inflammatory genes (IL-7 and TNF-α) were up-regulated in the exposed group and those associated with oxidative damage (GPx1 and SOD1) were down-regulated.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

Available for download on Saturday, April 20, 2024

Included in

Toxicology Commons

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