Project description:Fluorosurfactants are the key components in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF). They provide these fire fighting agents with the required low surface tension and they enable film formation on top of lighter fuels to prevent burn back. Development of effective and environmentally acceptable PFOS alternatives is one of the most important priorities in the fire fighting foam industry. DuPontTM offers the fluorosurfactant mixtures Forafac®1157 and Forafac®1157N for the formulation of AFFFs which are alternatives to the persistent and toxic perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS). Ecotoxicological testing of these inadequately documented mixtures is necessary to include them in AFFF hazard and risk assessment. Juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) was exposed for 14 days to 0.5 and 1.5 mg/l of the fluorosurfactant mixtures used in Forafac®1157 and Forafac®1157N. In a first transcriptomics experiment, microarray analysis revealed differentially expressed gene transcripts which were mainly involved in digestion and in the immune system. This discovery-driven screening approach offered the basis for new hypotheses that were tested in two subsequent experiments in which food intake, energy reserves, growth and a set of haematological parameters were examined. Additionally, effects of the two mixtures were compared to those of PFOS. Based on the results of this study, the mode of action of Forafac®1157N was the activation of the acute phase reaction resulting in increased leukocyte concentrations and the inhibition of growth due to the high energetic cost of toxicant exposure. For Forafac®1157, evidences of immunosuppression were found on the transcriptional level and the altered differential leukocyte profiles indicated that stress was induced in these fish. However, food intake, energy reserves and growth were not compromised, even at high exposure concentrations, which was in contrast to the effects seen after PFOS exposure. Taking into account that Forafac®1157 appeared to be less toxic than PFOS, this mixture could be considered as a more environmentally acceptable PFOS alternative for the use in AFFFs.

Project description:Fluorosurfactants are the key components in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF). They provide these fire fighting agents with the required low surface tension and they enable film formation on top of lighter fuels to prevent burn back. Development of effective and environmentally acceptable PFOS alternatives is one of the most important priorities in the fire fighting foam industry. DuPontTM offers the fluorosurfactant mixtures Forafac®1157 and Forafac®1157N for the formulation of AFFFs which are alternatives to the persistent and toxic perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS). Ecotoxicological testing of these inadequately documented mixtures is necessary to include them in AFFF hazard and risk assessment. Juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) was exposed for 14 days to 0.5 and 1.5 mg/l of the fluorosurfactant mixtures used in Forafac®1157 and Forafac®1157N. In a first transcriptomics experiment, microarray analysis revealed differentially expressed gene transcripts which were mainly involved in digestion and in the immune system. This discovery-driven screening approach offered the basis for new hypotheses that were tested in two subsequent experiments in which food intake, energy reserves, growth and a set of haematological parameters were examined. Additionally, effects of the two mixtures were compared to those of PFOS. Based on the results of this study, the mode of action of Forafac®1157N was the activation of the acute phase reaction resulting in increased leukocyte concentrations and the inhibition of growth due to the high energetic cost of toxicant exposure. For Forafac®1157, evidences of immunosuppression were found on the transcriptional level and the altered differential leukocyte profiles indicated that stress was induced in these fish. However, food intake, energy reserves and growth were not compromised, even at high exposure concentrations, which was in contrast to the effects seen after PFOS exposure. Taking into account that Forafac®1157 appeared to be less toxic than PFOS, this mixture could be considered as a more environmentally acceptable PFOS alternative for the use in AFFFs. Juvenile turbot with a mean weight of 7.21 ± 1.91 g and a mean length of 7.34 ± 0.33 cm were exposed to nominal concentrations of 0 mg/L; 0.5 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L for both Forafac®1157 and Forafac®1157N during 14 days. Three different 45 L aquaria per exposure condition were used resulting in 3 tank replicates. Each replicate aquarium contained six turbot. After decapitation, the liver was dissected, homogenized in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 °C until further analysis. The liver homogenates of the 6 fish per aquarium of exposure experiment 1 were pooled prior to RNA extraction. After RNA extraction, fluorescently labelled cRNA was constructed with each sample labelled with Cy3 as well as with Cy5.An Agilent custom 15k oligonucleotide microarray (Agilent Technologies) was used to measure gene transcription levels. The microarray platform, constructed by ACUIGEN (University de Santiago de compostela, Spain), contained 4 305 turbot-specific oligonucleotide fragments originating from an immune-related EST turbot database. Two probe volumes (Cy3 vs. Cy5) corresponding with 300 ng cRNA were mixed and applied onto every microarray. The hybridization design comprised one separate n+2 A-optimal design for each of the Forafac® mixtures.

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Wildfire Smoke-Induced MicroRNA Changes in Mouse Plasma Extracellular Vesicles

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