Objective To examine effects of maternal exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) during pregnancy and lactation on glucose metabolism of rats offspring.
Methods Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to PFOS with doses of 0 (control), 0.6 (low), and 2 (high) mg/kg PFOS through gavage from gestation day 0 (GD0) to postnatal day 21 (PND21). We applied high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to detect serum PFOS concentrations on PND0 and PND21; analyzed the trend of offspring's body weight variation; compared fasting blood glucose and fasting serum insulin levels of offspring at 9 weeks and 15 weeks; measured the expression of leptin and resistin genes.
Results The serum PFOS concentrations increased to (16.00& #177;1.27)mg/L in the lowdose group and (80.54& #177;6.55)mg/L in the high-dose group on PND21 (P < 0.05), respectively. Compared with the control group, the body weight was significantly lower in female offspring at 8-9 weeks in the low-dose group and 7-9 weeks in the high-dose group, and similar tendency was observed in the male offspring at 8-12 weeks in the low-dose group and at 7, 8, 10 weeks in the high-dose group (all P < 0.05). The serum insulin of female offspring was (10.85& #177;1.37)mU/L at 9 weeks of the low-dose group and (13.62& #177;1.87)mU/L at 15 weeks of the high-dose group, both higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05). For the male offspring of the high-dose group at 9 weeks, the fasting plasma glucose and the serum insulin were (5.43& #177;0.77)mmol/L and (13.23& #177;1.81)mU/L respectively; for the male offpring of the low-dose group at 15 weeks were (4.99& #177;0.54)mmol/L and (13.57& #177;1.22)mU/L respectively; for the male offspring of the high-dose group at 15 weeks were (5.71& #177;0.56)mmol/L and (13.44& #177;2.97)mU/L respectively, all higher than those of the control offspring (P < 0.05). Gene expression of glucose metabolism-related adipokine resistin were significantly up-regulated to 1.25& #177;0.03 (P < 0.05) and that of leptin were significantly down-regulated to 0.67& #177;0.08 (P < 0.05).
Conclusion Prenatal exposure to PFOS could disturb glucose homeostasis of rat pups and increase the risk of diabetes.
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