Groffen Thimo, Lasters Robin, Xie Ge, Tanjina Taiyeba, van Gestel Cornelis A M, Bervoets Lieven
ECOSPHERE, Faculty of Science, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp 2020, Belgium.
Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE), Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, Amsterdam 1081 Hz, the Netherlands.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2025 Sep 1;302:118562. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118562. Epub 2025 Jun 23.
The widespread use and persistence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have raised concerns about their ecological impacts. The relative lack of toxicological data for most current-use PFAS, including short-chain compounds such as perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) and precursors such as perfluorobutane sulfonamide (FBSA), is an uncertainty factor in ecological risk assessment. This study investigated the bioaccumulation and chronic toxicity (mortality, light avoidance, and change in soil granulometry as proxy of burrowing behaviour) of PFBS and FBSA in the earthworm species Eisenia fetida and Eisenia andrei in the natural standard LUFA 2.2 soil. Results showed that FBSA was more bioaccumulative (biota-to-soil accumulation factor (BSAF, minimum - maximum) of 0.191-205 kg-OC/kg-ww) and toxic than PFBS, with significant mortality (28-day LC 10.0-10.4 mg/kg dry soil) and impaired light avoidance behaviour observed at concentrations close to the 28-day LC concentration. PFBS exhibited a lower bioaccumulation potential (minimum - maximum BSAF of 3.85*10 - 7.44 kg-OC/kg-ww) and toxicity (28-day LC > 1000 mg/kg dry soil). For both PFAS, BSAF values were strongly dependent on exposure concentrations, with the highest BSAF values reported at the lower, environmentally relevant, test concentrations. Species-specific differences in bioaccumulation (absolute concentrations and BSAF values) were minor, with E. andrei showing slightly higher PFBS accumulation (4.13 ± 0.979 mg/kg ww) at high (1000 mg/kg dry soil) exposure concentrations than E. fetida (2.34 ± 0.0633 mg/kg ww). Despite minor differences in soil granulometry changes among exposure treatments, no clear dose-dependent patterns nor species-specific differences were observed. Overall, our results show a high bioaccumulation potential, but low toxicity, of FBSA and PFBS at environmentally relevant concentrations.
全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）的广泛使用及其持久性引发了人们对其生态影响的担忧。对于大多数当前使用的PFAS，包括短链化合物如全氟丁烷磺酸（PFBS）和前体如全氟丁烷磺酰胺（FBSA），毒理学数据相对缺乏，这是生态风险评估中的一个不确定因素。本研究调查了PFBS和FBSA在天然标准LUFA 2.2土壤中的蚯蚓物种赤子爱胜蚓（Eisenia fetida）和安德爱胜蚓（Eisenia andrei）中的生物累积和慢性毒性（死亡率、避光性以及作为掘穴行为指标的土壤粒度变化）。结果表明，FBSA比PFBS更具生物累积性（生物群与土壤累积因子（BSAF，最小值 - 最大值）为0.191 - 205 kg-OC/kg-ww）且毒性更大，在接近28天半数致死浓度时观察到显著死亡率（28天LC 10.0 - 10.4 mg/kg干土）和避光行为受损。PFBS表现出较低的生物累积潜力（最小 - 最大BSAF为3.85×10 - 7.44 kg-OC/kg-ww）和毒性（28天LC > 1000 mg/kg干土）。对于这两种PFAS，BSAF值强烈依赖于暴露浓度，在较低的、与环境相关的测试浓度下报告的BSAF值最高。生物累积（绝对浓度和BSAF值）的物种特异性差异较小，在高暴露浓度（干土1000 mg/kg）下，安德爱胜蚓显示出比赤子爱胜蚓略高的PFBS累积量（4.13 ± 0.979 mg/kg湿重）（2.34 ± 0.0633 mg/kg湿重）。尽管暴露处理之间土壤粒度变化存在微小差异，但未观察到明确的剂量依赖性模式或物种特异性差异。总体而言，我们的结果表明FBSA和PFBS在与环境相关的浓度下具有高生物累积潜力，但毒性较低。
