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Developmental neurotoxicity of PFOA exposure on hiPSC-derived cortical neurons.

Authors :: Wu S
Xie J
Zhao H
Zhao X
Sánchez OF
Rochet JC
Freeman JL
Yuan C
Source :: Environment international [Environ Int] 2024 Aug; Vol. 190, pp. 108914. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 26.
Publication Year :: 2024
Abstract: PFOA is a legacy Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals widely used in various industrial applications and consumer products. Although there has been a voluntary phase out of PFOA since 2005, it is still widely detected in various water supplies. A growing body of evidence suggests an association between PFOA exposure, particularly during developmental stages, with increased risks of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). The neurotoxic mechanism of developmental PFOA exposure, however, remains poorly understood. Utilizing human induced-pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cortical neurons, we investigated the effect of PFOA exposure prior to differentiation and assessed changes in neuronal characteristics, transcriptome, and neurodegeneration markers mimicking a Developmental Origin of Health and Disease (DoHAD) paradigm. Exposure to PFOA before neuron differentiation resulted in persistent alterations in nuclear morphology, neuronal network, and calcium activity. RNA sequencing analysis further revealed transcriptomic changes aligning with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) after PFOA exposure. These observations were further corroborated by alterations in tau phosphorylation markers, the presence of fibrillar tau, an increase in liquid droplets, and a decrease in RNA translational efficiency characterized using a battery of biochemical assays. Taken together, our results revealed persistent deficits of key neuronal characteristics induced by pre-differentiation PFOA exposure, suggesting impairments in several AD-related pathways that can together contribute to the elevation of AD risk after pre-differentiation PFOA exposure.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)